- #1
***Keep in mind this is all information from me reading MTL so it may not be entirely accurate and missing a lot of needed context***It's a very fun read, especially for those who love the secret identity trope. Ui-jae is desperate to keep his identity as "Hunter J" a secret, also known as the former top 1 ranker and in the past, only one of two known S-ranker hunters in KR (however, there's more S-rank hunters now). Personally, I feel like most of the webnovel depends on Ui-jae as a character although ML (Lee Sayoung) certainly has his own merits.MC:
- is a boomer. No, I'm not joking. Having spent eight years out of the loop, he finds it hard to adjust to how society works in the "modern" era. It's teased a little in the summary, but a lot of the story is very "fish out of water" type narrative for Ui-jae, who is not used to how casual the job of hunter has become.
- has a skill that helps him disguise his face vey well. He ab*ses this skill because he goes through many, MANY rollercoaster of emotions throughout the novel as he has to react to the ridiculousness of his new life hehe
- is very much liked by most visitors of the hangover soup restaurant, which... turns out to be mostly hunters LOL. He's very well-respected by these hunters (of all classes!) and it becomes a running joke as all these hunters perceive him to be a normal weak guy when he secretly outranks them all. Their support of him teeters between hilarious and wholesome, especially when MC registers as a D-class hero (D class? E class? something low like that) and everyone invites him to their guild, telling him they don't care about his value as a hunter, they just really respect him and like his personality TTvTT
- more on the boomer part--he tried to sell rare crystals on a craigslist-equivalent type app and he absolutely had to face the consequences of his actions. one of my most favorite part of the webnovel as everything exploded in his face and he instantly regretted it within minutes of posting it. the internet reaction seemed pretty realistic to me
- has a dedication to the grandma who runs the hangover soup restaurant and took MC in as well as the granddaughter who MC refers to as his nephew. Not much found family, but it's wholesome how MC has an attachment to them as if they were his real family, but a lot of the plot is taken up by the hunter aspect and there's not so much focus on them. There is a plot thread of MC making a deal with ML to get the grandma's legs fixed which I found very cute
- This is just from memory, but I think I remember reading how he has a bit of trauma regarding rifts. He went into West Sea Rift with a full party and was the only one who came out, so basically everyone else died. That would probably traumatize anyone and leave them with trust issues, and in recent chapters when "Hunter J" became re-recognized in the system, Ui-jae is still #1 even after eight years. How this will unfold into the plot in the future is still unknown. But he clearly wants to give up that dangerous life because it's a lot to shoulder onto someone who has lost so much. His motivations are pretty clear.
There's a moment where MC doesn't want to anger the rank 5 (or something close to that number) hunter Honeybee so MC lies and say he's a big fan of Honeybee and likes his face that shows up in many advertisements. ML gets jealous and despite having an infamous record of rejecting all advertisement appearance offers, he accepts one just so he can try to get MC's praise... haha....
[collapse]Major spoilers:SpoilerAt some point, a teenage girl hunter who can look into the future approaches Ui-jae with a very ominous vision that KR will fall and some sort of apocalyptic future will happen. This is the main drive of the story beyond MC just trying to live a normal life. Of course, our MC is a good guy and he wants to help avoid this future at all costs.
I mean, the main reason why he wanted to live a normal life in the first place is that he doesn't see himself as "needed" anymore in the current society. He didn't become a hunter out of passion so to speak, he did it out of necessity because again, he was only one of two S-rank hunters in KR and he felt he had a duty to perform in order to minimize casualties.
[collapse]This is a type of story where everybody is attracted to MC like moths to a flame, but I can't really blame said characters since MC is such a great guy. There's something authentic in the way that he cares about other people, he cares enough to have stayed in a dungeon for 8 years for the sake of a country that would never know of his efforts to save everyone. Obviously, everyone will find out at some point, but ultimately what MC doesn't want is recognition, but peace and to live a mundane life free of turmoil. It's hard for me to not want to root for a simple character like that.I like the side characters and their differing personalities. Even the one-off side characters featured in MC's Hunter Exam arc were interesting to read about in the few scenes where they showed up, contributing to the worldbuilding of the setting. A lot of the webnovel is lost on me, who is working with MTL, but it was still an enjoyable read to me nonetheless and I hope there's a decent translation that will come out someday <3 (You can read this on Ridibooks, I paid coins to unlock all the chapters)