The Hunter of the Other World Who Is Being Misunderstood – Chapter 146

Ch 146: Kim Giryeo （2）

Having reached the age of 20.

This was perhaps the most meaningful time for Kim Giryeo.

He met his mother, and in the same year, he also began his social activities in earnest.

━Weeeeeeeng.

━Drrrrrrr.

Kim Giryeo once worked at a bathtub factory.

In truth, his career there wasn’t long. He realized that even if he could make a living for now, wandering from one simple job to another without a plan would lead him nowhere in the future.

‘It’s surprisingly manageable, but I definitely can’t do this for long.’

So, after pondering how he should live his life, Giryeo finally set a goal.

Correctional officer.

Among the jobs with guaranteed retirement, it was said that this one had the lowest difficulty in the exam.

‘I originally considered a military officer too, but as an orphan who was exempted from service, it would be difficult for me to suddenly go into military life now…’

For reference, it was also around this time that he switched to a delivery agency.

While his previous workplace had frequent night shifts, leaving him no time to study, he thought he could at least control his pace with this job.

Moreover, a familiar older brother from the factory offered to sell him his used motorcycle at a low price.

Giryeo started the new job as if taking a gamble. As he had heard, learning to ride a motorcycle wasn’t that difficult.

“Hey, you crazy bastard! I ordered spicy pig’s feet, but it’s all cold, and it’s like frozen pig’s feet!”

Of course, he was very strict about following traffic laws, so in the first month, he received a lifetime’s worth of curses…

As he became more accustomed to driving, that gradually improved.

He had a knack for riding, more than he expected.

◈◈◈

Then, one peaceful day.

“Giryeo-ya… I’m sorry, but do you have any money saved up in your bank account?”

Lee Hwayoung suddenly asked him this question, as if testing the waters. She asked if he had any money saved up.

“Money?”

“My back is hurting, so I couldn’t go to work for a few days this month, and because of that, I don’t have money to pay the utility bills…”

He had resolved to refuse all financial requests when he left the orphanage.

Had his resolve faded with time?

Giryeo readily handed over 250,000 won to Lee Hwayoung.

After all, he was already paying half of the monthly rent, and he thought that nothing would change if he did this for a month or so.

…However, contrary to his expectations, Hwayoung’s demands gradually increased.

“Giryeo-ya, Mom doesn’t have money to go grocery shopping, can you lend me a few tens of thousands of won?”

First, she asked for 50,000 won in cash, saying she would buy groceries at the mart.

“Son… I’m sorry, but Mom is sick, so I can’t go to work this month.”

And after a few days, she said she couldn’t get a job due to health issues and made him pay for all of her living expenses.

“Mom is really sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s just for a little while.”

“Yeah. I’ll pay you back as soon as my back gets better and I start working again.”

Was it because of her promise to pay him back later?

Giryeo lent money to Lee Hwayoung again. Every time he did, his savings quickly dwindled, but he could still manage.

This young man was a frugal person who did not indulge in luxuries.

He had saved all the money he earned from the factory and the delivery job, so he still had some spare cash.

Yes. He had saved 30 million won by the age of 22, so this much was…

◈◈◈

Two months had passed since his biological mother had taken a leave of absence due to back pain.

29 million won.

28 million won.

And when his bank balance had decreased to around 27 million won.

His mother suddenly brought up something during dinner.

“Giryeo-ya, actually, there’s something I need to tell you…”

Lee Hwayoung revealed that she had a huge debt.

“When I was living alone without you, things were too difficult, so I took out some loans. But, but it doesn’t seem to decrease no matter how much I pay back.”

“Loans?”

“These days, I keep getting debt collection notices, and I’m going crazy…”

The documents his mother showed him clearly showed evidence of loans taken from banks.

The total amount of principal and interest was about 27 million won.

It just so happened that Giryeo had exactly the amount of money in his bank account to pay it off.

“They say that if I can’t pay this off in one lump sum, they won’t extend the loan, and we’ll lose the deposit for this house… What should I do?”

Thud. She grabbed Kim Giryeo’s hand and began to plead.

Could he, as her son, help her out? Of course, she would pay him back all his money later.

She would start working again next month once her back got better, so he shouldn’t worry.

“Can’t you help me?”

Usually, no one would readily agree to such a large request. But their relationship wasn’t that simple.

“Hmm…”

This was the family bond that someone had longed for so much.

“You’ll really pay me back… right?”

“Ah, of course! Don’t worry. How could a mother not pay back her son’s money?”

Kim Giryeo ended up using all of his savings to pay off Lee Hwayoung’s debt.

But it was okay. His mother had promised to pay him back.

He could save up for the exam again. Besides, his mother was helping him a lot with the housework while he was studying.

They would continue to live together, so this much was…

◈◈◈

Yeah. There was no way it was okay.

“Huh.”

Had it been two days since he lent money to Lee Hwayoung?

Giryeo, who had returned from his delivery job, let out a hollow laugh just three minutes after arriving home.

That was because what he saw as soon as he opened the front door was a living room in complete disarray.

And just in case, he checked every corner of the house, and the things that were missing were just some of his clothes, his wallet, his cell phone, and the travel carrier that should have been in the veranda.

“She’s not answering her phone either.”

To cut to the chase, Hwayoung had run away.

“Did she block me?”

And that was only 48 hours after he lent her the money.

Giryeo raised his hand and gently rubbed his nose bridge. Anyway, he really couldn’t have imagined this. He never thought she would pack her bags and leave like this.

“What about the deposit here… Is she going to move out soon too?”

If he explained the situation to the landlord, he might be able to talk to his mother briefly.

But now, how much help would a few words of conversation really be?

The empty living room. Giryeo, who was standing in the center, slowly squatted down.

“If I had known it would turn out like this, I shouldn’t have even asked if she would pay me back.”

As the situation unfolded, this was the first thought that came to his mind, ridiculously enough.

Yeah.

In fact, he had somewhat sensed that he wouldn’t get his money back.

But even knowing that, he had given his mother the money. Without even a simple promissory note.

He didn’t want to lose the mother he had barely met, and even if he didn’t have money, he would rather live with his family.

“Ah…”

But this money became the reason why his family fell apart, a truly futile ending.

He stared blankly at the window. By the time he regained his senses, the sunset was shining through that window.

◈◈◈

After that incident, Kim Giryeo worked even harder.

He was angry that he had to start saving all over again, but anyway, a person had to earn money to live.

He worked delivery jobs during the day and studied whenever he had time at night.

Even at this time, he still had a small hope for the future.

“Ugh, it’s really cold now that it’s winter.”

But what one must not forget is that the era this young man was living in was the world after the Dungeon Shock.

“Krrr…”

One day.

Kim Giryeo, after finishing a delivery, was coming out of a building when he discovered a stray dog in the alley.

But upon closer inspection, it wasn’t the common canine animal he was used to seeing.

“Hmm?”

Red sclera and mana stones protruding from its back.

With such a strange appearance, the opponent was clearly.

‘A monster!’

Gasp.

Giryeo, who discovered the monster, instinctively ran away. But the monster’s approach was faster than the motorcycle’s start.

Thududud… Crack!

What he heard next was a chilling sound of flesh tearing.

“-Aaaah!”

The F-rank monster rushed at Giryeo and violently bit his leg.

He desperately swung his helmet, but the black beast didn’t even flinch.

Cracking, crunching.

The beast began to chew on the man’s right leg as if it were a dog treat.

“Let go, let go!”

Kim Giryeo almost had his leg severed because of this incident.

But fortunately, it didn’t go to the worst-case scenario. Soon after, an E-rank Awakened One, who noticed the beast in the alley, rushed in.

Swoosh!

The black dog quickly lost its life to the hunter’s attack. But Kim Giryeo’s injuries were still severe.

“Hh, huff…”

“Oh my god! Are you okay? Am… Ambulance! I’ll call an ambulance right away!”

An unreal scene filled with red, like the lights of a butcher shop.

What on earth was going on?

He was so badly injured, would he even be able to walk properly again?

◈◈◈

“You will be able to walk.”

A few days later.

Kim Giryeo was lying in a hospital room.

The doctor was currently making his morning rounds. And just now, the doctor in charge had given his opinion on his injured leg.

“I can walk?”

“Yes. The surgery went well.”

But this was only saying that walking would be ‘possible.’

“But you shouldn’t run or do strenuous exercise in the future.”

“Huh?”

“The injury was too severe, so some aftereffects are inevitable. From now on, putting stress on your leg joints will only make it worse, so you need to take good care of it.”

He wouldn’t be able to stand for long, nor could he run for a short while.

Then, it was obvious that there would be major restrictions on physical labor.

“Is that so?”

Moreover, this incident had caused immense financial damage.

‘Ah, come to think of it, my motorcycle was wrecked too.’

He had thought that medical expenses wouldn’t be much since South Korea had a good health insurance system.

But the surgery costs for a fracture as severe as his were more than he had imagined.

If he had known this would happen, he should have gotten some insurance. No, but since he was riding a motorcycle for work, he wouldn’t have gotten approved anyway…

‘What am I going to do about the monthly rent?’

He had injured his leg, so he should just rest for a while. But he was in no position to accept those words.

If he rested today, he would starve tomorrow.

Because a person cannot live without money.

The hospital bill of a few million won, which was just a night’s drinking money for someone, was enough to bring a young man to his knees.

Also, someone who doesn’t have a family to help them up often cannot get back up once they fall.

A few months later.

Giryeo had recovered to some extent.

But as the doctor had said, he had aftereffects, and he couldn’t move his leg beyond a certain angle.

This would gradually improve over time, but if he wanted to be perfectly healthy again, he would have to use an item that came from a dungeon, they said.

“The cost of re-opening the leg and treating it with a high-grade potion is an average of 350 million…”

Hahaha.

He had never even seen 100 million won in his life, and now there was an additional 250 million won?

‘This is a headache.’

Kim Giryeo lit a cigarette he had taken out of his pocket.

He had started smoking out of curiosity after becoming an adult, but he had never chain-smoked like this before.

His savings had all been depleted because he couldn’t work properly while his leg was healing.

Moreover, when he hurriedly requested help from the country, the answer he received was that there was no support money for young people.

‘So, even with this body, they want me to work since I still have the ability to do so…’

Still, Kim Giryeo tried his best to live.

First, since his body had changed a bit after being bitten by a monster, he had an Awakening Test just in case.

“12Aw. You have Awakened as an F-rank.”

Even though he had drawn the lowest rank, he still tried challenging a gate.

“Shwaaak!”

“Ugh.”

Due to the trauma from the past incident, his body now trembled whenever he saw any monster, making it impossible for him to work as a hunter.

Still, if he looked, there must be something he could still do.

No, he had to create something even if there wasn’t. That way, he could earn a living, and once he earned money, then…

Then.

…Then what?

Come to think of it, why was he so desperately trying to survive?

‘What am I trying to do by living?’

The reason he wanted to become a public official was that he originally wanted a stable job.

If he received a salary from the state, at least his paycheck wouldn’t be delayed, and then his life…

He thought he could maintain that life with his mother for a long time.

“……”

That family had already been a mess for a long time.

His mother had abandoned her son twice.

A family that could be given up for just a year’s salary of a typical worker.

Kim Giryeo thought for a moment.

If he had been more affectionate, would his mother not have left?

If he had been a more handsome son.

Or if he had some extraordinary ability. Or if he had been very good at studying.

But whatever the case, it seemed that she didn’t find her son very appealing as a family member.

Then, how would he appear to others? Would people in the world not want to be family with someone like him?

Then, would he have to live like this for the rest of his life?

Abandoned by someone, lonely, and struggling.

‘For the rest of my life.’

Suddenly.

Kim Giryeo became tired of trying.

There was really no other way to explain it.

He just suddenly found everything incredibly bothersome.

Earning money, holding onto books, even the extremely trivial act of cleaning his room.

And it was around this time that strange things began to happen.

For some reason, he had been forgetting things lately.

What he was doing in front of the sink. What the door lock password was.

He kept spacing out.