The Hunter’S Gonna Lay Low

PROLOGUE

“Thank you! Please come again!”

With a cheerful voice from the employee, the automatic door of the supermarket opened. A young man wearing a gray hoodie and carrying a strawberry-patterned shopping bag filled with various ingredients headed towards the bus stop.

“A rift has appeared at the intersection, and traffic is being controlled. Please cooperate.”

The young man tilted his head at the unfamiliar scene unfolding on his usual route. Someone wearing a fluorescent yellow safety vest over a suit and a yellow safety helmet was blocking the passage, waving a red flashing baton. Over their head, the entrance of a shimmering blue rift was visible.

Below it, hunters were desperately fighting monsters that had squeezed through the rift.

“Kyahaaa!”

“Ugh! Not yet?”

“Just a little more…!”

A lizard the size of a car swung its spiky tail fiercely, emitting a bizarre cry. A hunter with a shield blocked the attack, but the lizard, excited, thrashed its tail around wildly, as if sweeping the surrounding area. The hunter barely managed to fend off the relentless attacks and cursed.

“Damn it, die! Fireball!”

A bright red flame engulfed the lizard. Seizing the moment of hesitation, another hunter shot an arrow at the lizard. The arrow pierced the lizard’s eye, causing it to writhe in agony and scream.

“Kieeek!”

“Wow, that was awesome…”

“Do not approach the barricade!”

“I’m gonna record it for YouTube Shorts.”

“Yeah, I’m already doing that.”

People stood a little distance from the barricade, filming videos and watching. The young man, not joining the commotion, walked briskly. The strawberry-patterned shopping bag swung as he moved.

As he stepped into a deserted alley, he encountered a gigantic figure blocking the narrow path. A purple toad was rummaging through a pile of trash and turned its head sharply toward the young man, sensing his presence. A long green tongue flicked out of its mouth, snatching up an empty plastic bottle and swallowing it. It was clearly a monster that had leaked from the rift.

“Damn those rift management guys. Can’t they do their job properly…”

The young man grumbled, rummaging through his shopping bag and drawing out something long like a sword. From the soft curved tip to the straight stalk and the solid root at the bottom.

In his hand… was a fresh green onion.

The toad croaked and turned towards the young man. Each step of its heavy legs shook the entire alley like an earthquake. The young man carefully set down his shopping bag, skillfully twirled the green onion, and gripped it firmly. Then,

He leapt onto a trash can lid and soared like a butterfly—

Bam!!

The clear, sharp sound of impact echoed loudly in the alley. The toad, unable to even let out a death cry, flipped its eyes and trembled all over. Sadly, the center of its head was deeply indented in the shape of the green onion.

The young man caught his breath and dusted off his hands. As the hoodie slipped off from the recoil, his cool face was revealed.

“Green onions are expensive… What a waste.”

He squatted in front of the toad, stuffing the remnants of the green onion into its mouth with his bare hands while taking out his phone. After some time, when someone answered the call, he spoke.

“He- Hello… There’s a dead monster in the alley here. It looks like a hunter killed it and just left…”

The young man’s voice trembled at the end, as if he were scared and even on the verge of tears. However, unlike the voice that seemed as if it would faint at the slightest touch, his current actions were indifferent.

“This is the alley going to Deukero Mart… The monster? It looks like a toad, but it’s too big and gross to see clearly. Please handle it. Yes, no need to contact me… Uh, you’ll be here in 5 minutes? Thank you, no problem. Yes, thank you…”

The young man sniffled and ended the call. Even after hanging up, he remained crouched, shoving the green onion pieces into the toad’s wide-open mouth. Despite claiming the monster was too gross to look at, his eyes were fixed on the toad.

Five minutes until the hunters arrive.

‘It’d be troublesome to encounter them.’

The young man stood up and erased his footprints from the trash can lid. The toad seemed to have died instantly with only the green onion-shaped dent in its head as an injury. With no other traces left, it would be hard to track down the person who dealt with the monster.

Having cleaned up the evidence, it was time to flee. The young man picked up his shopping bag, lightly bounced a couple of times in place, and reviewed the phone call he had just made.

‘…Should I have sounded more shocked when I reported it?’

Well, it was too late to regret it now. The young man easily jumped over a wall taller than himself.

***

“Is this the right alley?”

“Yes, it is!”

A few minutes after the young man leisurely disappeared, two people arrived at the scene— a man and a woman wearing fluorescent vests over their shirts. The urgency on their faces melted away upon seeing the toad’s corpse.

The woman, Yang Hye-jin, an A-grade hunter from the Rift Management Bureau, gasped as she looked at the toad with its tongue sticking out.

“Wow, this is insane.”

“Why, ma’am? Let me see… Whoa.”

The newcomer, who had followed closely behind, was startled and whispered to his senior.

“Wow… Can someone really take down a swamp toad this cleanly, ma’am?”

“It doesn’t make sense. This thing was taken out in one hit. If you’re even slightly off in timing, it sprays strong acid everywhere. It’s a nightmare, melting buildings and people alike…”

“It’s really impressive.”

The newbie, once again in awe, straightened his yellow safety helmet that had gotten crooked in the rush. Yang Hye-jin, with a sharp look, inspected the surroundings and gave instructions.

“Check if there’s any trace left. Someone this skilled is no ordinary person.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The newbie rummaged through the trash can and the surrounding garbage.

“Whoever did this… They did it so cleanly that the post-cleanup isn’t difficult.”

“Right. It’s so clean we could donate this to the monster research team. I wonder why such a skilled person didn’t dispose of the body and just left.”

Speaking sarcastically, Yang Hye-jin put on white gloves and opened the toad’s thick mouth. Toad-type monsters swallowed anything that touched their tongues and spat out poison or strong acid. A helpful toad, like in fairy tales, was a unicorn in reality.

In any case, it was necessary to check thoroughly as the toad might have swallowed a person on its way from the rift. Yang Hye-jin took out a flashlight and inspected the inside of the toad’s mouth. Fortunately, she found no human remains, just a few partially melted plastic bottles. Relieved, she sighed.

“Looks like it didn’t swallow any people…”

Meanwhile, the newbie, using a radar-equipped device to scan the alley, called out to Yang Hye-jin with a distressed look.

“Ma’am, whoever took down this toad must be a real pro. There’s no trace left.”

Yang Hye-jin, dusting off her hands, tilted her head.

“They must have used their ability, right? No trace of it? Look carefully.”

“I’m looking! But there’s no sign of any ability or any trace. Nothing at all.”

“What, did they take it down barehanded?”

Although she accidentally guessed close to the truth, unaware of this, she shook her head.

“Phew, must be another of those hidden strong ones. Why are there so many hidden powerful hunters? Cartoons and novels have ruined everyone.”

After turning off the flashlight and getting up, Yang Hye-jin stretched to relieve her tired body.

“Anyway, a 4th-grade monster came out, but it didn’t eat anyone or destroy any buildings, so we should be grateful. Let’s take the toad and head back. You write the report today.”

“Yes, ma’am. Who should I list as the one who dealt with the monster?”

“List it as unknown.”

“Understood. By the way, ma’am…”

“Yeah. What?”

The newbie, looking awkward, asked.

“Do you smell green onions?”

“…Now that you mention it?”

Sniffing around for a while, Yang Hye-jin shrugged.

“Maybe the toad picked up some green onions off the ground. Anyway, we’re going to have dinner together after work, right?”

“Yes. The usual place?”

“Yeah, the hangover soup

restaurant.”

***

At that time, in an old, decades-old hangover soup restaurant…

—I’m against this marriage!

—Father! How can you say that!

—Actually… You two are siblings!

“Oh dear…”

The old brown TV was showing a rerun of ‘Couple Clinic: Love or War’ on a cable channel. Someone, sitting in the prime spot where the screen was clearly visible, was peeling garlic with their eyes fixed on it.

—Don’t scold the kids! You’re no saint either!

—Mother-in-law, don’t intervene! This is about my child’s marriage!

—I never intended to reveal this secret, but given the circumstances, I have no choice. The truth is… we’re siblings too!

“The mother-in-law and son-in-law are siblings?”

The busy hands dropped the garlic they were holding. Without paying attention to the next scene, the person came to their senses to find a bald lawyer declaring, “See you in four weeks,” and announcing a mediation period. The hands, which had been stiff as stone, only started to move again with a rustle after a few commercials had passed. Once a considerable amount of garlic peel had piled up, the body that had been sitting down stood up straight.

“Taking out the trash~”

The voice, humming a tune while looking for the trash can, was slightly low but pleasing to the ear. The figure walked across the hall with long strides, although he was significantly taller than average, his head did not quite touch the ceiling, so there was no difficulty in moving.

The young man, having thrown out the garlic peels into the trash can, glanced at the clock. There was still a little time left before the evening shift began. His gaze drifted to one corner of the shop, and he momentarily frowned.

“Ah, I should have hit it with something else…”

With a sigh, the young man tidied up the area where he had been sitting and headed toward the door. He took down the break time notice and casually tossed it to the spot he had been eyeing earlier.

[Ingredient preparation time from 2 PM to 5 PM.]

Underneath the haphazardly discarded sign lay a crumpled strawberry-patterned shopping bag, completely empty.

Haejang-guk or hangover soup refers to every kind of guk or soup eaten as a hangover cure in Korean cuisine. It means “soup to chase a hangover” and is also called sulguk. It usually consists of dried napa cabbage, vegetables and meat in a hearty beef broth.