Yess & Yes

With the cost of a taxi not an issue in this situation, Lee Juwon tried to hail one on the side of the road, but there weren’t many cars on the road in the early morning hours of dawn. Those that did were either carrying passengers or had green lights indicating they were booked.

“People without phones can’t even get a taxi?”

While he was envying the conglomerate’s takeover of taxis, a taxi passed by, its lights indicating it was empty. Lee Juwon quickly stuck out his hand.

He clearly made eye contact with the driver through the window, but the taxi didn’t slow down. Anxious, Lee Juwon moved down to the shoulder of the road and waved his hand vigorously. But the taxi didn’t stop and just whizzed right past him.

“…All sorts of things are happening.”

As Lee Juwon ran his hands through his hair to calm his rising irritation, a bus pulled up to the stop. There was no telling when a taxi would arrive, or if he could get one, and the bus’s destination was Yeouido, so Lee Juwon climbed the steps behind a male passenger in a cap.

There were about six or seven passengers on the bus. At the back of the bus, someone raised their hand, and the man went to sit next to him. Lee Juwon plopped down on the seat closest to the exit door.

The bus soon left. Before it reached its next stop, the news of Lee Juwon’s death was announced on the radio the bus driver had turned on.

<Last night, on the 25th, Lee Juwon, CEO of the hunter service company December, died in a car accident. Lee Juwon was returning home at around 23:57 when he hit a street tree at the three-way intersection at Hannam Station and died instantly...>

The content was not much different from the newspaper article, but the feeling of seeing and hearing the news of his own death with his eyes and ears was not very pleasant. It was even more unpleasant to hear people talking about his death.

“...Did Lee Juwon really die...?”

“Ha, please...”

Two men who seemed to be friends continued to whisper.

“I guess Christmas miracles really do happen... I’m going to become religious starting from today.”

The man in the hat put his hands together in prayer, and the man sitting next to him pulled out his phone.

“It’s not a miracle, it’s inevitable. Have you seen this?”

“No, what is it? What is it?”

“125 reasons why Lee Juwon was bound to die on Christmas.”

“Look, look, wow... It was posted two hours ago, but the number of views is insane?”

“It also has subtitles. Many people overseas saw it too. The number of likes is crazy.”

Even though the video was played at the lowest volume possible, as if he was conscious of being on a bus, the unknown youtuber’s pleasant voice was still audible in Lee Juwon’s ears.

<...It’s no coincidence that Lee Juwon died on December 25th, Christmas Day!

There are 125 reasons why Lee Juwon was going to die, and he couldn’t possibly die on any day other than December 25th, so starting from now I’ll be naming those reasons one by one. First, please press! Like! And subscribe! I’ll be starting then~!

First, remember the Daedong River incident in Mishimri? It’s a famous story that during the Great Dungeon in Mishimri, a hunter company watered down the potions they were supposed to donate to the government as per the agreement!

It was later discovered that the potion content was only 0.1%, and the rest was 99.9% distilled water. When this came to light and the potion’s effectiveness was questioned, Lee Juwon provoked outrage from the entire nation when he said, “It could have a placebo effect.”

Unfortunately, there were no laws governing the purity of donated potions, as it was common practice at the time to donate potions as they were found in dungeons. As a result, Lee Juwon was not punished, and it became an established fact in the hunter world that the person Lee Juwon most admired was Bongyi Kim Seondal[1].

[1] Seondal: The Man Who Sells the River, aka bongyi kim seondal, is a movie based on an ancient novel about a swindler named kim seondal who sells the taedong river

This incident led to a law being proposed and passed requiring hunter service companies to specify the purity of potions they deliver.

Secondly, as you know, for public interest and safety reasons, information about dungeons, monsters, and items is publicly available. However, it is a widely known secret that the Hunter Association only selectively releases important information acquired in dungeons to the public.

And guess who has the lowest rate of information disclosure? Yes, surprisingly, the one with the highest number of dungeons cleared, December. Lee Juwon is notorious for giving out extremely limited information, even to his own hunters.

And third, the case that Inhunter fans are most outraged about! In order to keep costs down, Lee Juwon sent out Kang Inheon alone to the Bangchuk-dong dungeon, which was classified as a S-class risk.

Inhunter handled it dramatically in two days, but of course he was badly injured and even ended up in the hospital for the first time. We almost lost our precious Inhunter because of Lee Juwon, who, as usual, values money over human life.

Fourth, as shown in the previous case, when it comes to Lee Juwon, the passion pay controversy cannot be left out. He’s still young, but Lee Juwon, who’s already equipped with a boomer mindset...>

Lee Juwon was pissed off when he heard his slander resounding through the bus.

So what if the potion content was only 0.1%? What the hell is so important about the content? Even 0.002g of fentanyl can kill a person, and a truffle dish can be sold even if it just has the smell of truffles. In a country where carp bread is openly sold on the streets with no carp in it at all, there was still an uproar over potions being distributed for free having some water in it.

Lowering the potion content or restricting dungeon information was something every hunter service company was doing. Expecting donations when they’re already raising the taxes by so much, who was the one who truly had the mindset of a thief? Why start a company if you’re going to give everything back to society? Just start a charity.

The Bangchuk-dong dungeon was classified as C-class when it was first investigated, and it was a low-risk area that needed to be dealt with quickly, so they had no choice but to send Kang Inheon. What’s more, it wasn’t that he sent Kang Inheon alone; it was that Kang Inheon went alone.

No one expected it to suddenly evolve to S-class. Bangchuk-dong was the first case of a dungeon evolving, and although it was not announced and was off the record at the time, it was now a widely known fact, and yet they’re swearing at him again while pretending not to know...

Lee Juwon had no intention of sending Kang Inheon to his death to save a few pennies. He wasn’t stupid enough to cut the belly of a chicken that lays golden eggs.

Rather, if Kang Inheon had been a member of the NGO international relief organization, as the public hoped, he would have been crippled or dead long ago after being thrown into all sorts of dungeons. And he would have already been forgotten by people. Even if they remembered him, it wouldn’t mean anything.

In front of others, Kang Inheon pretended to be good, pretended to be righteous, pretended to be the true hunter of this age, and that’s why it was best for him to be in December. The darker the darkness, the brighter the light. In December, he only needed to do safe, well-paying jobs with good cost-effectiveness that he had no choice but to do even if they displeased him while maintaining the image he wanted to project.

Job change? Independence?

Lee Juwon snorted. They didn’t know anything.

For Kang Inheon, who pretended to be a good person whenever he was out and about, staying in December was the best option, where his true nature could be revealed in secret. The proof was how he signed the contract again every year. But there were too many idiots who didn’t know that.

Besides, they should be thankful to have a job in this unemployment crisis, and whoever coined the term passion pay was pathetic. These days, whether it was hunters or white-collar workers, it was a big problem that no one had any will.

“Back in my day, I did standard work for 120 hours a week while receiving a base salary...”

From things he couldn’t remember, to things he didn’t understand why they were evil, to things that were misrepresented or distorted by the world, countless memories flashed through his mind along with the YouTuber’s voice like a shadow-picture lantern.

<...and just yesterday! The 125th evil act. According to reports, Lee Juwon left work after 11pm yesterday, Christmas Day.

Employees posted dozens of posts on Blind, hoping that Lee Juwon would please go home! Finally, one employee was reportedly dumped by their lover yesterday...

Gathering 125 evil deeds like this, in the end, Lee Juwon had no choice but to face death...>

Lee Juwon was forced to listen to the video on his way to Yeouido and had no choice but to admit it. That YouTuber had the skills that YouTubers should have. The ability to spew bullshit at the right time and with great care.

The title said there were 125 reasons why he died, but there weren’t even 125 in total because they skipped some around halfway through. Their skills showed through their aggravating thumbnails, too.

But no matter how talented they were, it was amazing how many likes they got for a video saying why it was good someone died. Of course, Lee Juwon had also never genuinely expressed condolences for someone’s death after becoming an adult. But having his own death mocked was a different matter altogether.

In the meantime, the bus had become more crowded, and there were several people getting off at Yeouido Station. When he got off the bus, the winter sky had rose coldly.

Even though the sun was just rising, there were quite a few people on the streets. Perhaps because the day was cold, everyone was busy curling up and going their own way. There was an unknown sense of disharmony in that appearance, but Lee Juwon tried to ignore it and hurried to the company.

The main gate of the December building was still firmly closed, and there were reporters crowded in front of it. Now, all he had to do was walk up to a reporter he knew and say good morning, and all the news headlines will change again.

The bushy-haired man in the blue padded jacket was Choi Taeseon, who worked for Shinil Daily, a newspaper that published many favourable articles on December. Of course, he had to pay a pretty penny for that favour, but Lee Juwon couldn’t help but spend money when he was investing rather than consuming.

“Good morning, Reporter Choi.”

But Reporter Choi, who was supposed to respond to Lee Juwon’s greeting with an overreaction worthy of the money Lee Juwon had spent, took a cigarette from his pocket and put it in his mouth. The other reporter, who looked a little younger, lit it for him and said, “December will make an official announcement later today, right?”

“Of course, the police official is already up.”

“Ha... I thought Lee Juwon would never die...”

“I know, right? He’s always pulling tricks outside the dungeon, so how can he die?”

“Maybe drunk driving? That’ll paint a more interesting image.”

“Even if we don’t do that, rumours like that are spreading on the internet...”

“Oh, should we stack the deck? It’s obvious that he didn’t call a driver because he thought it was a waste of money.”

Shin Wooncheol, a reporter from Cheongwoo, lightly stretched and answered as if he was tired of waiting. “I just got off the phone with a junior I know, and it seems the problem was that the tyres were too old.”

“Aye... I guess he just slipped on the snowy road after all...”

“Whatever, the fact a bastard with so much money doesn’t even change his tyres is quite... a relief.”

“Well, he did a number on the street tree, too.”

“The homepage of the Cultural Heritage Administration is down right now.”

“Huh? Why?”

“They want the gingko tree he hit to be designated as a national treasure.”

“Hahahaha, what the hell.”

“No, I’m serious.”

“Really? Phew, the netizens should restrain themselves… a national treasure is no joke, tsk, send me the link.”

“Are you going to write an article while you wait?”

“No, I’m going to ask them to designate it as a national treasure, too.”

“Hahaha.”

He expected a flash of camera lights, but the reporters didn’t even look at him as he approached them and just made slanderous jokes. With their sharp eyes, it was impossible for them not to recognize Lee Juwon since he wasn’t even an ordinary person. Even so, it was ridiculous that they treated him like a ghost right in front of his face.

“Reporter Choi?” Lee Juwon called out to the man again, but hu, Reporter Choi blew a puff of cigarette smoke in Lee Juwon’s face. The white smoke billowed into the pale winter sky. Reporter Choi smiled gleefully in front of Lee Juwon and said, “Good thing he died, that fucking bastard.”