Ruin.
The dictionary definition of this word refers to the hell described in Buddhism — a state of despair so deep there’s no escape.
And right now, I was in that situation.
Ruin.
Ruin.
Ruin.
Marking the wrong coordinates, tsk tsk.
That’s just the level of those wreckers, lol.
Acting all high and mighty just because you took down a top-3 ranked hunter who was bound to get caught eventually, tsk tsk.
Lololololololol.
Just die.
Ruin.
Ruin.
Na-rak Na-na-rak.
I was staring at the chat window, which had completely spiraled out of control — unlike usual.
No, I couldn’t even properly look at it.
I just kept my head down, apologizing over and over again.
In modern usage, the meaning of the word “ruin” has shifted a little.
It’s now often used to describe a situation where a celebrity — especially an internet broadcaster — causes a scandal, gets caught in controversy, or is revealed to have done something wrong and faces overwhelming public criticism.
People say that person has “fallen into ruin” or has “gone to ruin.”
And me?
A hunter and a streamer.
No — now just known as Kang Yubin, a 23-year-old man whose personal information had been completely exposed.
I had fallen into that ruin.
Wearing a black suit, standing in front of a green screen with a haggard face, I kept bowing my head in apology.
“…I’m sorry.”
Lololololol – Yeah right.
Bet you’re still raking in money right now, huh?
Stupid clout-chaser.
Lololol.
Just go die.
Woooo!
Ruin!
Ruin!
Even if you get sued, you deserve it, lol-Your face and personal info are already out there, huh?
“I’ll show my face on the broadcast too.”
Saying that, I took off the goblin-shaped mask I’d been wearing.
“I’m sorry. I have no excuses.”
Lolololol- Oh, no excuses, huh?
Lololol-Funny how you had so much to say when you were dragging down other hunters, huh?
Lol;;-Fucking hilarious lololol-Look at this guy — even his face is annoyingly handsome lol-Hey, you piece of shit.
The chat was overflowing with an endless stream of insults.
Even among them, I could see people who had once been my most enthusiastic supporters.
But the messages they were sending now…- This clout-chasing asshole — I knew it’d turn out like this ;;-Please stop spreading fake news ;;-Lol, honestly, the people who fell for this guy’s act are the real idiots.
It was ridiculous.
These were the same people who had cheered me on and supported me when I was exposing corrupt hunters and putting them behind bars.
And yet now, as if they had never believed in me in the first place, they flipped their opinions as easily as turning over their palms.
It was… hollow.
Do you know why I’m here, dressed in a suit, bowing my head in front of the camera?
I’d put an entire truckload of hunters on trial and behind bars.
To the average person, I was a hero.
A hunter who brought down corrupt hunters.
A hunter who knew how to wield public opinion as a weapon — a true predator.
But it’s not like I ever fabricated anything about the people I exposed.
Inside the Tower, there are isolated areas completely cut off from the outside world.
Although people think hunters’ actions are always recorded and broadcasted through their status windows, that’s not always the case.
There are zones within the Tower where recording and streaming are prohibited.
And those zones?
That’s where hunters do things they wouldn’t want anyone to see.
For the record, these zones were created entirely for the hunters’ convenience.
In those places, they could do drugs or even kill people…And no one on the outside would ever know.
Why?
Because there’s no way to find out.
The hunters who benefit from these hidden zones and manage their influence are usually those ranked between 20th and 50th place.
How could anyone survive by going against them?
Top-10-ranked hunters either went through that path themselves or, having passed it, pressured others into silence.
I personally went into those places, seeking them out with my own body.
But I never exposed the fact that such places even existed.
After all, I needed to make a living too.
I needed the controversies to keep happening.
Anyway, at some point…The existence of these broadcast-prohibited zones inside the Tower was discovered by the Hunter Surveillance Bureau.
Eventually, the reality of those zones was revealed to the public.
And just like that — disaster struck.
The very hunters I’d worked so hard to throw into prison began testifying against me, spouting insane accusations that I had incited crime in those places.
One testimony hit me harder than any other — former Rank 15 and the most popular hunter, Choa-rin.
Her tearful live broadcast, claiming her innocence, was a devastating blow.
She accused me of collaborating with the powerful figures inside those zones — of fabricating that drug-use video and framing her, dragging her into ruin.
Of course, that was far from the truth.
In reality, I had simply witnessed her engaging in those very acts herself, gathered evidence, and spread it online.
But public opinion doesn’t always follow reason.
If it did, there’d be no such thing as conspiracy theories — no sympathy for criminals.
Public sentiment is easily swayed by emotion.
Human beings are creatures prone to getting swept away by their feelings.
And the sight of a beautiful woman crying, pleading emotionally.
That struck the fragile hearts of the crowd and sparked an outpouring of sympathy.
“Boooo!”
“You clout-chasing bastard!!”
Once a whistleblower against corrupt hunters, I was now branded as nothing more than a reckless clout-chaser — someone who unjustly dragged innocent people into the mud and ruined their lives.
I won’t deny that I was, in some ways, a clout-chaser.
I hid the existence of those broadcast-prohibited zones — a veritable goldmine — to protect my income and fame, deceiving the public.
If I were to make any excuse, I’d say it was because I feared the countless hunters operating in those zones.
But I didn’t want to make excuses.
After all, I had been the one who took down Lee Kang-geon, the third-ranked hunter — one of the industry’s biggest figures.
I wasn’t about to start making cowardly excuses now.
No, I would end my journey here.
There was no coming back from this.
I had to announce my retirement, step away from broadcasting entirely, and lay low.
“I… will take time to reflect on my actions.”
“I sincerely apologize to all the hunters, their families, and acquaintances who suffered because of me.”
I improvised the apology on the spot, ending with a formal bow.
But this wasn’t an apology for Choa-rin’s accusations.
It was an apology to the people who had once believed in me, supported me — my viewers — for keeping the truth about the broadcast-prohibited zones from them.
“For the pain I’ve caused… I offer my deepest, most sincere apologies.”
And that’s when it happened.
BANG!!!
“Urgh?!”
“You… you bastard! This is your fault!!!”
“Guh…!”
It was Lee Kang-geon — former Rank 3 and current fugitive.
His bloodshot eyes were wide with rage as he stormed in and attacked me.
And of course, the broadcast was still running.
***
The internet exploded the next morning with discussions of what had happened.
[Hunter Viewer Community]
“Holy crap, did anyone see that apology stream last night?!”
“They broadcast someone getting murdered live. WTF.”
“Clip of the Hunter’s death”
At the center of the storm was none other than the massive hunter-streamer, “Hunter,” who had been killed live on air.
The video of his final moments was already going viral.
[You bastard!!!]Lee Kang-geon’s enraged shout echoed through the clip.
At the same time, Yubin — the streamer known as “Hunter” — could be seen gasping as Kang-geon grabbed him by the throat.
At first, the viewers had still thought it was some kind of performance — laughing and jeering in the chat.
[Do you even know what I lost because of you?!]
[W-What… You… monster…]
[You… piece of… shit…]
Even as his throat was being crushed, Yubin kept speaking.
[I may be trash…]
[But you… you’re worse…]
[You absolute… pieces of… shit…]
As his breath faded and curses spilled from his lips, the chat slowed down bit by bit.
“This guy’s really taking ‘self-reflection’ to a whole new level, lol.”
Of course, there were still viewers clueless about the gravity of the situation, throwing out comments like that.
One of them was a long-time fan of Yubin’s.
[YOU BASTARD!! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW MUCH I LOST BECAUSE OF YOU?!!!!]
[…Wh-what… do you want…!!]
[BEG FOR YOUR LIFE! JUST LIKE YOU DID EARLIER, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!]
As Lee Kang-geon screamed those words, Yubin’s face turned deathly pale, foaming at the mouth from lack of air—yet even then, he smiled.
Then, his right hand trembling too much to function, he lifted it with his left and…[Screw you.]
With a look of pure disdain, he flipped Kang-geon off.
[YOU PIECE OF—!!!!]
With those final words from Kang-geon, a sharp crack echoed through the room—and Yubin’s body went limp.
Moments later, the sound of sirens filled the air, and Kang-geon fled the scene.
Exactly 15 minutes later, the police entered the room and forcibly ended the live broadcast.
But even after the stream cut off, the viewers didn’t leave the chatroom.
After all, the events they’d just witnessed directly contradicted Choa-rin’s claims that Yubin had collaborated with Kang-geon to gain wealth and free him from prison.
As the investigation proceeded, Yubin was proven innocent.
And in the aftermath, he was hailed as a “dark hero.”
Following his death, as people mourned Yubin, they also spoke of him with admiration.
“Imagine how terrifying it must’ve been for an F-rank to go up against A- and S-rank hunters.”
With those sentiments spreading, the world began to see Yubin as a hero once again.
And then, a few weeks later…Just as public interest in Yubin’s story started to fade.
The world erupted into chaos once more.
A notification flashed in red across the eyes of every citizen in South Korea:[SSS-RANK TOWER HAS APPEARED!!!!]
That message was displayed in bright red letters.
***
Sway, sway!
Twitch, twitch!
“…What the actual hell.”
That’s when Yubin realized something had gone terribly wrong.
[Entity Name: Kang Yubin]
[Species: Gumiho (Tower Boss)]
[Rank: SSS]
[Gender: Female]
The status window displayed something beyond bizarre.
Three major changes from his past life’s status:Species.
Rank.
And… gender.
But Yubin couldn’t even focus on those first two details.
A Gumiho?
A Tower Boss?
SSS-rank?
Sure, being a Gumiho meant superior physical abilities and mana sensitivity compared to humans.
And SSS-rank?
That was higher than any existing hunter—or even other Tower bosses.
In theory, this was something he could’ve been thrilled about.
But Yubin couldn’t see past one glaring issue.
“…Something… feels off.”
Even with the addition of nine tails, there was an undeniable sense of emptiness.
And just as his hand was about to drift down to confirm his worst fear—he froze at his lower abdomen.
There were two reasons for that.
First: He was too terrified to confirm it with his own hand.
Second:”YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING MEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
[We’ll be waiting for your broadcast! >.<]
“…You want me to stream from the Tower?!”
“Are you out of your damn mind?!!!”
Of course, his furious shouts never reached the mysterious entity behind the status window.
[Don’t be so angry~]
[The internet works here, you know?]
[Don’t worry~]
Staring at the status window, Yubin muttered bitterly.
“…That’s… not the problem right now….”
Of course, regardless of his current distress, the fact that the internet worked inside the Tower was indeed a very important detail.