The king asked,
〈My brothers and I want to build a city, but even if we build it during the day, it will collapse at night, so we can’t possibly finish it.〉
The fairy answered,
〈By burying a person under the foundation stone, it’ll be completed safely.〉
〈What kind of person does it need?〉
〈I will tell you who is worthy of sacrifice, so choose from them. The first choice is a pair of twins, and the other is the wife of one of the king’s brothers.〉
So, the king chose.
1.
〈Hyung-ah, what are you doing?〉
The child called out to a boy sitting in the corner of the yard. Wondering what his name was, the boy just replied.
〈Did you wake up while sleeping?〉
〈Unn.〉
〈Go in and sleep. You’ll get scolded if the director catches you going outside.〉
〈I can’t sleep.〉
The toddling child exclaimed at the pendant held by the boy. A red liquid glistened inside the elaborately crafted glass decorations.
〈Pretty. What is that?〉
The boy looked down at the child's broken hand, which was pushed forward as if he were asking for it, and handed over the pendant. The child was delighted and lifted the pendant over his head.
Moonlight stained red with blood poured through the transparent glass pieces. It was a full moon.
Then, the moonlight distorted.
A Gate opened.
***
In Yoo-shin thought that phrases such as “Your nose will break even if you fall backwards” and “Murphy’s Law” were expressions that fit him today.
First, I sold unused shelves on a used items trading site. The buyer picked up all kinds of faults and cut 5,000 won off the direct deal. I tried to forget the offer after swearing inwardly a few times, but my bank account suddenly got suspended. It turned out that the buyer, who was involved in a voice phishing scam group, used my account.
What’s more, In Yoo-shin even visited the bank, which took half a day to find a solution for his issue……
“Don’t move! If you move even a little, I’ll shoot!”
Bank robbers stormed in.
‘A-a robbery? This is just ridiculous.’
The guns the robbers held shone menacingly. In Yoo-shin clasped his trembling hands and lay face-down on the floor. Even in a society where guns are prevalent, it wasn’t common to encounter such criminals. His fear was so intense that his brain went blank.
The customers and bank clerks lying on the floor were trembling. On the other side, an armed guard was lying there, his ambiguous state either passed out or dead. The vivid smell of blood fueled the fear even more.
“Move quickly. We need to get out of the bank in five minutes at the latest.”
The robbers frantically moved wads of bills into a large bag. In Yoo-shin swallowed his breath, feeling the air engulfed in fear.
“Mom……”
“Shh. Chan-woo-ya, don’t speak.”
When the child lying down next to her started whining in fear, the woman who appeared to be his mother covered his mouth and quickly hugged him.
In Yoo-shin moved his eyes slightly. I didn't like this situation either, but I couldn't ignore the frightened child.
“It’s going to be okay.”
He whispered in a calm voice to the trembling child wrapped in his mother’s arms. With a tear-stained face, the child nodded his head. Unless they wanted to be murderers, the robbers wouldn’t bother hurting more people here. In Yoo-shin believed that as long as they took the money, the people would be safe.
However, with the sudden ‘bang!’ sound of gunfire, a robber’s profanity alongside screams poured out.
“You bastard! I told you not to move!”
“Uaagh!”
The screaming bank clerk had been about to press the emergency call button under a desk while the robbers were bagging the money. On the floor, the bank clerk’s red blood stained his shirt.
“Fuck! Did you press it?”
“Hurry up and put it in!”
“Let’s just bail right now!”
The robbers were also very rattled. The man who appeared to be the boss gnashed his teeth.
“Anyway, the guard will be dead soon! Kill one or kill two! We can just take anyone hostage!"
Then, grabbing the hair of one of the customers lying on the floor, he roughly lifted her up.
“Aack!”
“Mom!”
She was the mother of the child next to In Yoo-shin. His heart sank. If the mother is taken hostage, then the child………
“Sweep everything in!”
The man yelled while pointing a gun at the woman’s head. The hands filling bags became busy.
The people, lying prone, covered their mouths and swallowed their screams. What are the chances that the person taken hostage would be unharmed? While they lamented the woman’s fate, they were relieved that they had not become hostages themselves.
The crying child clung to the legs of the woman, who was motionless in terror.
“Mom! Mom!”
“What is this again?”
The man raised his foot in annoyance. In a rush, In Yoo-shin exclaimed without realizing it.
“W-wait a minute!”
Not just that man’s eyes, but also the other people’s eyes, focused on him at an instant. In Yoo-shin closed his eyes tightly. Today was truly the worst day ever. I was victimized by voice phishing and also encountered bank robbers.
Worst of all, the mother of the child might die right before my eyes. The child whom I just met. However, In Yoo-shin could not let this child become an orphan like himself.
“I-I’ll be the ho-hostage instead.”
His vision was blurred by fear. I can’t even see what kind of expression the child’s mother was making. In Yoo-shin tried to straighten his trembling body. It’s going to be okay. A report has probably been filed, so the police will arrive soon, and it’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay.
A sneer crept across the robber's lips. That was when—
The tightly shut door opened, and a tall man entered through the slanting sunlight. His blurry vision cleared within an instant. In Yoo-shin blinked his eyes without realizing. It was my first time seeing that man. But it was a face that no one couldn’t recognize.
His facial features were so distinct and elegant that there were even rumors that he was of mixed Caucasian descent. A tall, slender figure that would not be lacking even if he walked on a runway right now. A black riding jacket.
Even in the midst of chaos, the man's gesture of looking around was absurdly calm, and only the space where he stood was heterogeneously transparent. In the silence that ensued because of his lack of understanding the unexpected situation, the man swept his hair. His light gesture looked as mundane as breathing, but after closing his handsome eyes, his expression turned into a gentle sneer.
“It’s definitely banking hours, but there seems to be a few uninvited guests here.”
“Hyeo-Hyeo-Hyeo-Hyeon Gyu-ha!”
“Oh, you know me?”
“Fuck! Shoot him!”
The robbers, startled by the man's appearance, opened fire in bursts. Bang! Ta-bang! At the ear-piercing noise, In Yoo-shin reflexively flinched his shoulders. But there was no screaming, nor smell of blood.
As if time had stopped, the bullets stopped twenty centimeters in front of the man.
“If you know me, then you should also know that shooting a gun is useless.”
He then lightly snapped his fingers with a ‘clack!’
“Uaaargh!”
The robbers screamed and flew upside down, crashing into the ceiling. The man, who settled the situation with a single gesture of his hand, yawned boredly, and flicked off a bullet suspended in the air.
Bang!
The gun of a robber, who was slyly trying to shoot from the ceiling, exploded.
“Kaah!”
His scream was short-lived. His jawbone was crushed as if he had been hit by an invisible iron ball. The shoulder blade of the struggling robber stuck next to him twisted.
“Who else wants to live eating porridge for the rest of their lives?”
“……”
The robbers fell silent. The man, having taken all of the guns, set his gaze on the people who were crouching on the floor with blank faces.
“Is anyone hurt?”
The steady, everyday voice brought the dazed people into reality. Only then did the people break down, feeling relieved and bursting into tears.
The woman, who had been held hostage, cried as she held her child in her arms.
“Th-thank you! Hunter Hyeon Gyu-ha-nim. Thank you so much!”
“Yes, yes.”
The man, who casually accepted her thanks, looked at the guard who had fallen on the floor and made a call on his mobile phone.
“Uh, Yoo Byeon-ho, it’s me. I was at the bank and ran into some robbers. Can I kill them? They shot first, so isn’t it self-defense? I think I was traumatized by the gunshot…… Ah, self-defense doesn’t work outside of dungeons? It’s hard to live as a Hunter. I got it anyway. Call the police for me.”
Clicking his tongue in disappointment, he turned his gaze to In Yoo-shin.
“You there.”
“M-me?”
“It looks like he’s still breathing, so can you help me press down on the wound here? There’s a bank clerk-looking guy collapsed over there, so I’ll have to go take a look at him.”
It was an overly unrealistic delusion that a man I had only seen on the Internet suddenly appeared and saved us. In Yoo-shin, who was in a state of fascination, walked in a daze and pressed his hand hard on the guard’s side to stop the bleeding, as he was ordered to do.
Hot blood gushed out. The vivid evidence of life gradually made him aware of reality. The nightmare of a worsening, messy day had ended. Because of a man. 1st Rank in the Hunter rankings, the one-man army: Hyeon Gyu-ha.
Upon recognizing this, the area around the left side of In Yoo-shin’s chest felt boiling hot, and soon his head started to feel dizzy. He felt as if the blood in his bloodstream were boiling throughout his whole body.
At that moment, a system window, visible only to him, appeared in front of his eyes.
The system window that suddenly appeared flickered and crackled as if there had been an error.
‘Is there an error in the system window?’
The system window, which had been flickering off while glitching, was restored to its original state. Then, clear text appeared.
[If the abyss is despair, then bats are also rats. Bat-taming is now possible.]
[Would you like to start taming it?]
[Yes / No]
In Yoo-shin even forgot that he was stopping an injured person’s bleeding and opened his mouth.
‘No, bats are also rats? They’re different species. Does this even make any sense? Is the system crazy?’
He blinked a few times, knowing that it was ridiculous, but the system window continued to block his view.
[Yes/No]
In Yoo-shin was an Awakener. An F-class Taming Awakener.
Since it’s possible to tame the monsters that appear in Gate like familiars, taming is a relatively highly regarded ability. But In Yoo-shin is F-class. I can’t tame monsters, because the ability is limited to only rodent animals.
It was just a useless ability, unless rodents appeared in a dungeon as mobs.
‘……Is there a kind of rat called a bat that I don’t know about? Something like a white rat?’
He looked around just in case, but he couldn’t see a rodent’s tail, let alone a bat. In the first place, there was no way that rats would appear in banks in the city center rather than the sewers or outdoors.
‘Just as I thought—isn’t this an error?’
In Yoo-shin tried to ignore it, but the system window taking up his field of vision was annoying. Soon after, the police arrived and cleared the scene. The unconscious security guard and bank clerk were also safely transported by ambulance.
[Yes / No]
“……”
I can't live with this floating window floating for the rest of his life. I even ran into bank robbers, and nothing worse could happen other than that. And if it were really a bat, then it would be better than regular rodents. Above all, it would live longer.
In the midst of the chaos of the crime scene being organized, In Yoo-shin touched ‘Yes’.
A familiar sensation penetrated the top of his head. It felt like a bridge had been built between soul and soul. A bat tattoo was engraved next to the hamster tattoo on the inside of his wrist. Taming was complete.
[Bat-taming is complete. Would you like to name it the automatically set name?]
‘Unn.’
[The name of the bat is ‘Henry Raymond Charles Francois VII’.]
In Yoo-shin looked around. Even though the taming was completed successfully via the system, there were still no visible bats around.
Was it a system error? Still, he called on it quietly just in case.
“7-seya.”
There was neither a small body that ran, squeaking in response to the Master’s call, nor a body that flew with its streamlined wings flapping.
What In Yoo-shin, who had summoned the tamed bat, faced were Hyeon Gyu-ha’s bright amber eyes suddenly staring at him. His eyes, filled with boredom, narrowed as if he were about to say something.
HM: this is re-edited owo. THere was a lot of mistakes.
Editor M: Fun fact! In Korean, the word for ‘rat’ is ‘쥐’ (‘jwi’) and the word for ‘bat’ is ‘박쥐’ (‘bagjwi’). The system basically told In Yoo-shin that a bagwi is a jwi, lol.
Summary: In Yoo-shin, an F-class Taming Awakener, experiences a day full of misfortunes, culminating in a bank robbery. During the robbery, the renowned Hunter, Hyeon Gyu-ha, intervenes, saving the hostages and subduing the robbers. In the aftermath, In Yoo-shin's system window malfunctions, offering him the ability to tame a bat. Despite the absurdity, he accepts, and the taming is successful. However, there is no bat to be found, only Hyeon Gyu-ha's intense gaze upon him.
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: Stallion, Editor M
is it possible to change the size of the font it’s very big
Thank You!! I can't wait for the next update!!!😀
I will set a camp here, pls continue TL-nim🙏
Awoop jumpscara