[Remember This is for Recycling Sorting!]
Whoosh. The faded laminated paper stuck with blue tape fluttered in the cold wind. A thick, bug-like figure squatted busily in the alley.
Wearing a thick padded jacket, a toad apron, rubber gloves, track pants, and three-striped slippers, Cha Eui-jae was peacefully sorting recyclables in his winter house look. As he removed the label from a PET bottle, Cha Eui-jae muttered like a complaint.
"Why is there always so much trash, no matter how much I throw away…"
He gathered the labels and put them in a plastic bag, then stepped on the PET bottle to remove the air. This time, he picked up the sack full of soju bottles.
Bang!
At that moment, a sudden firecracker-like sound exploded from the empty air. Cha Eui-jae, thinking it was some kind of bad luck, looked up and was met with a familiar white screen.
[Congratulations, J!]
[You have become the new number 1 in 'Region: South Korea.']
"…What?"
Thud. The heavy sack fell to the ground. An empty soju bottle rolled out of the sack and clattered across the asphalt.
'What kind of bastard announces a number one rank while I'm sorting recyclables?'
Cha Eui-jae was so taken aback by the absurd system message that he didn't even think to question its validity.
Number one? Me? If there was someone to answer, Cha Eui-jae would have grabbed them by the collar and demanded an explanation. He couldn't understand why such news had suddenly intruded on what could have been an ordinary day.
Instead of asking the system for information, Cha Eui-jae hastily opened an internet app on his phone. Fortunately or unfortunately, breaking news about the Hunter rankings was plastered all over the portal site's main page.
[「Breaking News」South Korea's New Number 1, J]
[「Breaking News」Unshakeable Number 1 Lee Sa-young Falls to 2nd, Overtaken by J.]
[「Breaking News」Awakener Management Bureau: "There cannot be duplicate Hunter names, no identical names."]
[「Breaking News」Awakener Management Bureau: "Possibility of system error exists, verification in progress."]
[「Breaking News」Jung Bin Spotted Boarding a Helicopter… Heading to Incheon?]
The more he refreshed the page, the more articles popped up. The system, as if to be helpful, even displayed a new ranking window.
1. J
2. Lee Sa-young ▼1
3. Matthew ▼1
4. Jung Bin ▼1
5. Gyu-gyu ▼1
6. Honeybee ▼1
7. Doctor ▼1
8. I Am An Artisan ▼1
9. Ham Seok-jeong ▼1
10. Song Jo-heon ▼1
11. Shield Guy ▼1
Every name except J had a blue down arrow next to it. Just looking at it was destructive.
"Shit."
Cha Eui-jae couldn't help but recall a photo he'd seen on an internet post a long time ago.
Let's learn about things you shouldn't do at a funeral
That is…
(Raising Hand Emoji)
Resurrection!
Suddenly coming back to life would be shocking for everyone, right?
See you next time
Indeed, Cha Eui-jae had unintentionally… committed the ultimate faux pas.
J. As embarrassing as it was to say with his own mouth, during his time as a Hunter, he saved countless people and was famous enough to be portrayed as a hero in children's educational comics who sacrificed himself alongside the rift.
That such a person would resurrect after 8 years? And immediately reclaim the top spot upon his return?
'Of course, they'll be desperate to find me no matter what.
He could hear the sound of his peaceful, quiet life slowly slipping away. Cha Eui-jae finally realized. Oh, right. That firecracker sound he heard earlier wasn't anything else.
It was the sound of his small, precious, quiet life exploding…
Denial of reality made him mechanically refresh the screen, and with each increased refresh count in the corner, his chest filled with anger. He grabbed an empty soju bottle from the sack and, holding the mouth, started gesturing angrily at the status window.
"Hey, what did I do to deserve being number one?"
It made sense that he was number one in the past. J was strong and constantly sliced through all kinds of monsters. In terms of ability and achievements, he could confidently say he didn't fall short anywhere.
But Cha Eui-jae? After escaping the West Sea rift, all he did was clean, sort recyclables, do the dishes, make hangover soup, collect discount coupons, shop for groceries, take care of Park Ha-eun, donate to the West Sea rift Foundation, occasionally catch monsters that popped out while pretending to be an ordinary person and report them to the Rift Management Bureau. That was about it.
If he became number one just for doing that, then anyone could be number one.
[A special reward for being number one is given.]
[Claim]
'Bring me a reject button.'
Cha Eui-jae searched for a reject button somewhere. However, there was no reject button, not even a small X mark. Instead, the system emphasized the 'Claim' text in red.
Do you think I'll press that? Absolutely not. Cha Eui-jae intentionally looked away from the system. He planned to ignore it until it got tired and disappeared.
But the system, displaying a new window wherever he looked, this time provided different options instead of 'Claim.'
[ some of the previously deleted authorities are being restored.]
[Restoring authority…]
[Access to South Korea Channel 1 has been recreated.]
[Do you want to access South Korea Channel 1?]
[Yes]
[▷Yes]
It seemed to have increased the options in response to his opinion. The problem was that nothing had changed.
The Hunter Channel was a group messenger created by the system. It was a group messenger where they could share information, chat, and make announcements. Cha Eui-jae had always thought it was probably created because Hunters played solo too much.
Anyway, the channel had access criteria to match users' levels, and Channel 1 was accessible only to those ranked from 1 to 50.
In other words, Channel 1 had Jung Bin, Honeybee, and Bae Won-woo hanging out there. Of course, Lee Sa-young as well.
'Do you think I'll go there?'
He had tried to live quietly, but the world wouldn't leave him alone. Cha Eui-jae picked up the soju bottle that had rolled far away and separated the cap and the glass bottle.
"I'll never enter, so get rid of the window."
[…]
The system didn't respond.
'Finally, it's quiet.'
Cha Eui-jae let out a sigh of relief and began gathering the empty bottles and the sack on the ground.
[!!Error!!]
[Selection time has expired.]
[You will be automatically connected to Channel 1.]
"What?"
Cha Eui-jae was horrified. What the hell was this rude system saying now?
+82 [CH.1]"J has entered the chat"
'I'm fucked.'
This damn system didn't even have a nickname change function! Suddenly resurrected with the old name J and forcibly connected to Channel 1, Cha Eui-jae lost all will in an instant.
Even if it was absurd, he couldn't help but laugh helplessly.
"Ha, haha."
Whether the others knew his feelings or not, the temporarily frozen chat burst into a flurry of messages.
.
.
.
[50] Romantic Opener: Crazy
[50] Romantic Opener: Wow
[11] Shield Guy: Whoa
[6] Honeybee: ?
[6] Honeybee: Real?
[34] A Small Miracle Seo Min-gi: Isn't this a system error?
[50] Romantic Opener: No, wow
[50] Romantic Opener: Truly legendary continuous updates ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
[8] I Am An Artisan: No way, haha
[8] I Am An Artisan: This must be a hidden camera, haha
[8] I Am An Artisan: System must be pranking us with this reaction, haha
[8] I Am An Artisan: This must be some reality show, haha
[8] I Am An Artisan: Like a hidden camera show, haha, got it
[6] Honeybee: Escaping reality is wild
[4] Jung Bin: Hong Ye-seong-ssi ^^
[4] Jung Bin: I'll temporarily disconnect the WiFi in Jang-in Village.
[4] Jung Bin: Please be careful not to leak any information.
[8] I Am An Artisan: (Crying Emoji)
[29] Marble Seller Boy: Isn't it possible someone else took the name?
[43] Ddeun: There's no way it's the real J, right;;
[4] Jung Bin: As you all know ^^; duplicate Hunter names are impossible.
[4] Jung Bin: I understand this is very confusing.
[4] Jung Bin: We are verifying it, so please wait a moment. ^^
[29] Marble Seller Boy: In online games, they periodically release names of long inactive users…
[15] No Nickname: But this isn't a game.
[3] Matthew: Jung Bin.
[3] Matthew: Could there be a possibility that the West Sea rift reopened…
At Matthew's cautious question, the chat window, which had been unreadably chaotic, froze. Cha Eui-jae also held his breath. If the West Sea rift had reopened, Cha Eui-jae had to go there.
He had to go back to that hell, find what he had left behind, and atone for his sins, as that was the price to be paid by the one who survived.
Crash!
Cha Eui-jae blinked. The soju bottle in his hand had shattered into pieces. His neck felt cold for a moment. He must have been sweating without realizing it. After letting out a long sigh, Cha Eui-jae tried to dismiss the annoying system window and looked up…
[2] Lee Sa-young: X
Cha Eui-jae saw the message from Lee Sa-young. He blinked slowly.
[11] Shield Guy: Excuse me, J?
[11] Shield Guy: hoxy… Could you send a message in the chat?
Even in this situation, Bae Won-woo was persistently clueless.
'Would you do it if you were me?'
Somehow, the tension eased. His chaotic mind began to calm down a bit. Squatting on the ground, Cha Eui-jae decided to use the power of artificial intelligence as a last resort.
"Hi, Nexby, find a way to leave the Hunter Channel."
—Searching for a way to leave the Hunter Channel.
—No results found.
Damn it.
***
"Huh? Why is this thing not working?"
In the hangover soup restaurant still crowded with hunters, one of them was fumbling with the remote control near the TV. No matter how much he pressed the buttons, the TV showed no signs of turning on. Scratching his head, he called out to Cha Eui-jae.
"Hey, why isn't the TV working? Is it broken?"
Cha Eui-jae replied while stacking a tray full of empty bowls.
"Yes. It was broken when I checked this morning. I'll call a repairman tomorrow."
Of course, it was a blatant lie. The TV was perfectly fine. The cord was just unplugged.
"Man, I wanted to watch 110-Minute Debate while eating."
As the man muttered in disappointment, other hunters began to chime in one by one.
"Is that on today? Whether to send a rescue team or not?"
"Oh, I wanted to watch that too."
"We'll just have to watch it on our phones."
"Can't we call a repairman now?"
"It's evening, so they probably won't come."
Disappointed voices echoed from various corners. But Cha Eui-jae pretended not to hear any of it. Everything was to prevent the catastrophe of watching this week's 110-Minute Debate together, which they so eagerly wanted to see.
Today, a week after J's name appeared on the Hunter rankings, a special live broadcast of 110-Minute Debate was set to air with the subtitle;
[J's Return: Should We Send a Rescue Team to the West Sea Rift?]
None of this reflected the opinion of the resurrected person himself, even a tiny bit, so Cha Eui-jae had unplugged the TV cord as soon as he woke up. He clenched his fist tightly.
'I'll make sure they can't watch it.'