The Hunter’s Gonna Lay Low Chapter 1

“Thank you. Please come again!”

Along with the cheerful employee’s voice, the mart’s automatic doors opened. A young man wearing a gray hoodie pulled low and carrying a strawberry-patterned shopping basket full of various ingredients headed toward the bus stop.

“There is currently a gate occurring 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-green safety vest over a suit, complete with a yellow hard hat, was blocking the passage while swinging a glowing red baton. Beyond their head, the entrance of a gate shimmering with blue light was visible.

And beneath it, hunters were desperately fighting monsters that were squeezing through the gap and crawling out.

“Kyaaaak!”

“Kruk! Not yet?”

“Just a little more…!”

A lizard the size of a car let out a bizarre cry and swung its thorn-covered tail fiercely. A hunter holding a shield blocked the attack, but the lizard, thoroughly excited, thrashed its tail through the air as if it would sweep away everything around it. Thud! Thud! The hunter, who had barely managed to defend against the relentless attacks, spat out a curse.

“Fuck, die! Fireball!”

A bright red flame enveloped the lizard. Taking advantage of the brief moment it faltered, arrows flew at the lizard from another direction. The lizard, its eye pierced, let out a scream and twisted its body.

“Kiiik!”

“Whoa, that was awesome…”

“Don’t approach the barricade!”

“Film it short so I can upload it to YouTube Shorts.”

“Yeah, I’m already doing that.”

People were watching from a little distance away from the barricade, filming videos. The young man, not joining in that commotion, hurried along. The strawberry-patterned shopping basket in his hand swung and swayed.

The moment he stepped into a sparsely populated alley, he encountered a massive form blocking the narrow alleyway. A purple toad of some sort, rummaging through a pile of trash, sensed a presence and sharply turned its head to look toward the young man. A long green tongue slipped out of its mouth and deftly tossed an empty plastic bottle in. It was clearly a monster that had escaped from a Rift.

“Ah, those damn Gakgwanguk bastards. Can’t they do their jobs properly…?”

The young man, muttering irritably, rummaged through his shopping basket and pulled out something long like drawing a sword. From the softly curved tip, to the straight stem, to the sturdy root nestled beneath.

What was in his hand was… a single fresh large green onion.

The toad let out a gurgling cry and turned its body toward the young man. Every time its dull legs stepped on the ground, the entire alley shook as if there were an earthquake. The young man carefully set down his shopping basket and skillfully spun the green onion once, adjusting his grip firmly. Then,

Stepping on the lid of a trash can and leaping up like a butterfly—

He swung the green onion down on the toad’s head!

Smack!!

A clear, crisp impact sound loudly shook the alley. The toad couldn’t even let out a death cry, its eyes rolling back as its limbs trembled violently. Unfortunately, the very center of its head was caved in in the shape of a green onion.

The young man let out a “Hoo,” steadying his breath, and dusted off his hands. As the recoil knocked his hood back, a cool face that had been hidden beneath was revealed.

“Green onions are expensive… What a waste.”

The young man squatted in front of the toad, roughly shoving the remains of the green onion into the toad’s mouth with his bare hands, and picked up his phone. Some time passed, and whether the other party had answered the call, the young man opened his mouth.

“Um, excuse me… There’s a dead monster in an alley here? It seems like some hunter caught it and just left…”

The end of the young man’s voice was trembling. He even sounded a bit tearful, like someone thoroughly frightened. However, unlike the voice that seemed like it would faint if poked, his touch was indifferent.

“It’s here, the, the alley going to the Two Cranes Mart… The monster? It looks like a toad, but it’s so, so big and gross that I can’t look closely. Please do something about this. Yes, you don’t need to contact me separately… Ah, you’ll come within 5 minutes? Thank you, no. Yes, thank you…”

The young man sniffled and hung up the phone. Even after the call ended, the young man sat still in that spot, pushing green onion pieces into the large mouth that was tastelessly displaying its tongue. The young man’s two eyes, which he had said couldn’t look closely because the monster was gross, were clearly staring at the toad.

5 minutes until the hunter arrives.

‘It’ll be troublesome if I run into them.’

The young man stood up from his spot and erased his footprints remaining on the trash can lid. The toad appeared to have died instantly without any other external injuries except for the green onion-shaped mark remaining in the center of its head. At this level, it would be impossible to track down the person who dealt with the monster from the remaining traces.

Evidence destruction was complete, so now it was time to run. The young man, picking up his shopping basket again, lightly jumped in place a couple of times and reviewed the phone call he had just made.

‘…Should I have sounded more surprised when reporting?’

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

∞ ∞ ∞

“Is this the alley?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

A few minutes after the young man leisurely disappeared, two people—a man and a woman wearing fluorescent vests over their shirts—arrived at the scene. However, the urgent look that had been spread across their faces vanished like snow melting the moment they saw the toad’s corpse.

The woman who entered the alley first, A-rank Hunter Yang Hyejin from the Crack Management Agency, let out a sigh upon seeing the toad dead with its tongue hanging out.

“Whoa, insane.”

“What’s wrong? I… Ah.”

The new recruit who followed behind gasped in surprise, clung tightly to their senior, and whispered in a small voice.

“Wow… Does it make sense to deal with a Swamp Toad this cleanly, Senior?”

“It doesn’t make sense. Just looking at this, it was caught in one blow. If this bastard’s timing is even a little late, it sprays strong acidic solution everywhere. It melts buildings and people alike, so it’s a headache… “

“Truly amazing.”

The new recruit, admiring once again, adjusted their yellow hard hat that had gone askew from running over in a hurry. Hyejin, scanning the surroundings with sharp eyes, instructed.

“Check if there’s anything left behind. With this level of skill, this isn’t an ordinary person.”

“Understood!”

The new recruit rummaged through the trash can and the garbage piled nearby, saying.

“I don’t know who it is, but… they caught it so cleanly that cleanup won’t be difficult.”

“Right. It’s so clean that we could even donate this to the monster research team. I wonder why someone with that kind of skill didn’t dispose of the corpse and just left.”

Hyejin, speaking sarcastically, put on white gloves and opened the toad’s thick mouth. Toad-type monsters were troublesome creatures that swallowed anything their tongue touched and spat poison or strong acid saliva in all directions. A kind toad that gives you a new house if you give it an old one was a unicorn that only existed in children’s songs.

Anyway, since the toad might have swallowed people while running out of the gate and coming this far, a detailed check was needed. Hyejin pulled a flashlight out of thin air and shone it into every corner of the toad’s mouth. Fortunately, instead of human corpses, only a few half-melted plastic bottles were visible. Only after finishing the check did she let out a sigh of relief.

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

Meanwhile, the new recruit, who had been pointing a radar-equipped device all around the alley, called Hyejin with a tearful face.

“Senior, the person who caught the toad must really be a pro. There’s nothing left at all.”

Hyejin, dusting off her hands and standing up, tilted her head.

“They must have used an ability, though? No traces of ability use either? Look carefully.”

“I am looking! But there’s absolutely nothing detected by the scanner, let alone ability traces. There’s really nothing.”

“What, did they catch something this big with their bare hands?”

She inadvertently made an inference close to the truth, but having no way of knowing that, she soon shook her head.

“Ugh, obviously another hidden strongman dealt with it. Why are there so many hunters hiding their strength in the world? Comics, novels, whatever—useless things have ruined all the kids.”

As she turned off the flashlight and stood up, the new recruit also tucked the device into thin air. Hyejin stretched long, loosening her tired body.

“Anyway, a Grade 4 monster came outside and didn’t eat anyone or destroy any buildings, so I’m grateful. Let’s take the toad and return. You write today’s report.”

“Yes. Who do I write as the monster handler?”

“Write it as unidentified, obviously.”

“Understood. But Senior…”

“Yeah. What?”

The new recruit asked with an awkward face.

“Doesn’t it smell like green onion here?”

“…Now that you mention it?”

Hyejin, sniffing around for a while, soon shrugged her shoulders.

“The toad must have picked up a green onion that fell on the ground and eaten it. Anyway, we’re eating dinner together after work, right?”

“Yes. The usual place?”

“Yeah, the hangover soup restaurant.”

∞ ∞ ∞

At that moment, a worn and old hangover soup restaurant that looked decades old.

—I oppose this marriage!

—Father! How could you do this!

—The truth is… you two are siblings!

“Oh my…”

On the old brown tube TV, a cable channel was airing a rerun of “Couple Clinic: Love or War.” Someone was sitting in the prime spot with a clear view of the screen, eyes fixed on it while peeling garlic.

—Dear! Don’t say things like that to the children! You haven’t done anything right either!

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

—I was going to keep this a secret from you for my whole life. Now that it’s come to this, I have no choice but to tell you. The truth is… we’re also siblings!

“Mother-in-law and son-in-law are siblings?”

The busy hand dropped the garlic it was holding. Before there was even time to care about the next scene, by the time he came to his senses, a bald lawyer was already declaring a mediation period, saying, “I’ll see you in 4 weeks.” The hand that had been frozen like stone only began to rustle again after a few commercials had passed. Once a fair amount of garlic peel had accumulated, the body sitting in the spot rose up.

“Taking out the traaash~”

The voice humming while looking for the trash can was a pleasant voice, slightly low. The height, well above average, walked with a swagger across the hall, but his head didn’t quite touch the ceiling, so there was no problem moving around.

The young man, having shaken the peels into the trash can, glanced at the clock. It was still a bit before the evening time open. He turned his gaze to a corner of the shop and was staring blankly when he suddenly furrowed his brow.

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

With a sigh, the young man organized the area around where he had been sitting and headed toward the door. Then he removed the break time sign attached to the sliding door and tossed it roughly toward where his gaze had been earlier.

‘From 2 to 5 is ingredient preparation time.’

Beneath the sign lying carelessly scattered, there was a wrinkled strawberry-patterned shopping basket with nothing in it.