11:30pm...
In a certain place... there was a person running and panting in the streets. He was heading towards a seemingly abandoned warehouse and went towards a rusty-looking iron door and knocked on the door forcefully.
Knock Knock!
"Who is it?"
"Buying big red paint from an old friend!"
"What the hell!? Who dares..... wait Barry, why are you in this state?"
"Just open the door Thomas! There's an urgent matter I need to talk to the boss about!"
"Don't you have a phone?" Thomas asked while opening the door.
"His phone is off!" Barry shouted while running quickly forward. "I would have called him if his phone wasn't off!"
When Barry passed through the door, the scene changed completely.
The warehouse was bright, and there were many people in different clothes carrying boxes with crystals of different colors and shapes, and they were loading the boxes into trucks. The person hit the truck, signaling it to slide, and the trucks sped off into a secret underground tunnel, and they all left.
Up above, in a large room, many gang members were sitting and sipping drinks, and in the middle of that whole group was a person standing and holding a glass.
"So how was the operation, boys?"
"We convinced The Rocchi to partner with us, with the Zombos drug, and they will share the territory with us in the city 50/50."
"Great, and what about the hunters?"
"I managed to disrupt and reduce most hunters from entering the gates by catfishing them on social media sites, and we bribed them as necessary."
"Smart."
"And, boss, we convinced many anti-mutant groups. They will protest at the gates, in exchange for us helping them with their mutant problem."
"Excellent. Once the plan succeeds, we will be on top."
"Top of the TOP!"
"Yeaaah!"
"That's right, boss!"
"A toast to you, boss."
"A toast to you too, Jericho. As you know, we were just businessmen, but because of the catastrophe, we were left struggling. But look at us now, we've gotten closer and the Red Hand will rise again!"
"Yeah!"
"The Red Hand!"
"The Red Hand!"
"The Red Hand!"
Their boss was smiling. All the men around him showed expressions of surprise and enthusiasm. This was a great day for the Red Hand....
But out of nowhere, a man burst through the door forcefully, and they all heard the force of the door opening. All the gang members turned and raised their guns, aiming their weapons towards the door, and saw a familiar face.
"Barry? What the hell, why did you enter like that?! If you enter like that again, I'll shoot you!" he spoke while aiming his gun at Barry.
"Th_a_emerg! There a big problem!" Barry spoke, stammering while the guns were pointed at him.
"What it is?, don't tell me you caused a problem with The Rocchi, I swear to God if you____"
"No, boss, it's about them, something about the subway station!"
"Subway station? What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, turning around.
"Boss, he means the gate located in the subway station," one of his men whispered into his ear.
"Ooh.....that gate, What about it? Did those people cause a problem about us not helping them yet? Damn it, you came for a trivial problem!"
"A hunter, a hunter went and entered that gate!"
"What!?"
The boss shouted in shock, and everyone looked on in shock, staring at the boss. His face was frowning and extremely angry, and veins were visible on his face.
""You idiots, didn't you just tell me before a minute that's you disabled the hunters from entering it?!"
"Ye_yes, boss, we did. But there must be some people who slide what we do and simply go to the gate."
"Barry, what does this hunter look like? What was his appearance?"
"He's a teenage boy, Japanese, wearing a black jacket."
"A teenager? Just a kid entered the gate?"
"That's not the problem!"
"Huh? What's the problem then?"
"The problem is that this hunter is a mutant!"
"A mutant!"
"A mutant hunter?"
"Wait, is there a thing like that?"
"I don't know, this is the first time I've heard of something like this."
"Damn, this is the last shit we need."
The gang members were consulting each other anxiously because the situation was complicated. They were now in a situation they themselves had not anticipated. They had planned for everything, but suddenly an unexpected factor appeared out of nowhere. They didn't know how to act.
"Boss, what should we do?"
Their boss was ignoring his men's comments. He was sweating, scared, very scared. He felt something bad because of this obstacle in his path.
"Tell the men to watch the gate from a distance. If that thing manages to come out safely..."
"...then there will be an animal for us to hunt."
.
.
.
.
In subway stations.....
Martin was in his office, turning on his computer. His computer was different; it had a green and black screen as if it contained secret things.
[H.E.R.O.E.S]
[Gates]
[Hunters r.i.p]
[Monster's images]
[Monster Crystals]
...
[H.E.R.O.E.S]<<
[Gates]
[Hunters r.i.p]
[Monster's images]
[Monster Crystals]
....
[Hunter's]
[Record]
[News]
[Emergency]
[X]
....
Hunter's]
[Record]<<
[News]
[Emergency]
[X]
..
[Do you want to create a new record?]
[No]
[Close]
[Yes]<<
[October 5th, 2044, at 9:15 PM, a small group of protesters appeared initially and quickly escalated, becoming a large group of protesters by around 10:20 PM]
[The number of hunters going to such gates has decreased, about 99%. I request support from outside, or an immediate solution regarding these protesters and a request to engage with them. The police cannot suppress them; we need quick and indirect solutions to resolve this situation]
[The goblin group living in a Rank F cell originally numbered one or two thousand, but according to reviews and analysis of the number of monsters hunted in the past period, the estimated number of monsters now is more than several thousand]
[The problem is not just in the subway, but in five different gates. Please, I urge you to respond to my request and provide support to prevent a gate breach and___]
Martin stopped typing on his computer for a moment and thought about that hunter Kuro, and wondered if he should tell them about him. It took him a few seconds to make his decision.
[That's all, the record is finished]
...
"Alright,I've finished organizing, and now I need to go and give the USB drive to the gate analysis team."
As he walked towards the analysis team, they were completely engrossed in their computers, doing their work. Martin approached and tapped on his shoulder; he looked at him, and when he saw the USB in his hand, he didn't say a word because he knew it was a daily routine. He took the drive and started his work.
While he was inputting the information, Martin saw the Professor kneeling on the floor, working on some machine. He looked at him, curious about what he was doing.
"Professor?"
"Oh! Hello Martin, have you finished your desk work this quickly?"
"No, I was just giving this to the analysis team, regarding the information to supply H.E.R.O.E.S."
"Oh, makes sense," the Professor spoke while continuing his work.
"What is this?" Martin asked, scratching his chin. "This is a Rank C gate core with Cobresk fibers, connected to a GGC-4 radar device."
"I didn't know you were a scientist too?" the Professor spoke in surprise, standing up.
"No, I just pick things up from when I worked in the gate field."
"Don't be modest, these are difficult things. Why don't you try becoming a scientist? Isn't it safer?" asked the Professor.
"I wanted to, but my father died bravely fighting in a gate. I decided to follow his path and contribute to my country. I have to do this directly, not through labs," Martin spoke firmly.
"Well, isn't your life simple?" the Professor whispered.
"Excuse me? What were you saying, Professor?"
"Me? I was just–"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the gate activated and seemed like it was about to spit something out. All the soldiers looked on in shock, raised their weapons, and took up their defensive positions.
"Dammit, the gate is breaking! Professor, come with me before–"
Before Martin could finish his words, something came out. Kuro appeared and looked around, seeing the commotion.
"Seriously, what's with all the surprise? You guys are acting strange?" Kuro asked, scratching his head.
"No, nothing, I just thought you were something else."
"Weird," Kuro said, and Martin was completely embarrassed, adjusting his glasses slightly. "How many monsters did you hunt?" Martin asked, trying to change the subject.
"Here." Kuro took out his bag with his right hand and gave it to him.
"Ooof, it's heavy! Be careful, we aren't hunters like you," Martin spoke, his legs buckling slightly before he straightened up and tried to open the bag. "And since when did you have a bag? I don't– What the–"
What Martin saw completely shocked him. He saw the bag was filled with...
"What the hell? How many monsters did you kill!"
"A lot, just give me the money to leave quickly," Kuro said, taking the bag and heading towards a passage.
"Just wait a moment!" Martin spoke, catching up to him.
Kuro stopped at a place that had a machine with two soldiers. He emptied all the crystals onto a table near the device, and they immediately started it. The crystals were all pulled into the machine.
"No need to follow me, you know. This isn't my first time going to a gate."
"No, it's just... how did you manage to collect all these crystals?" Martin asked.
"I hunted them. I'm a hunter."
"But what's your exact rank?" Martin asked.
"I don't know," Kuro replied indifferently, shaking his pocket. "I don't see an important reason to check how high I am."
"But, shouldn't you at least go to the Association building and find out your rank?" Martin asked, raising his hand. "Once you become a high-ranking hunter in an organization, you can enjoy many benefits."
"It costs too much effort and time, and I don't want to have a collar." Kuro saw the machine starting to sort the crystals and clean them of blood.
"But it doesn't compare to wasting your time in the gate," Martin said while the crystals were moving right and left inside the machine.
"The gate and my life are two different matters. I separate my time outside from my time in the gate."
Kuro answered as he reached the end of the machine, where a soldier was lifting some lever. Numbers began to appear on a screen that they all saw.
1
4
9
23
56
99
122
300
.
.
.
1000
"Number of crystals: 1000. You will receive 10,000 U.G.C," the soldier spoke in a toneless voice.
"Transfer it to my credit card."
Kuro showed his card, the soldier took the card, the money was transferred to his card, and he put it in his pocket.
"But there, you don't... (sigh) Never mind, there's no way to convince you no matter how hard I try," Martin spoke, resigning.
"Yep, exactly," Kuro said, waving as he left.
As Kuro was going up, he first remembered the things he had to do.
"Let me see first, pay the bill, then renew the monthly subscription for the streaming channels, and buy some hamburgers," he said, counting on his fingers.
"Hmm, I feel like I forgot something important, but what is it?"
While Kuro was thinking, he went up and saw that there was a larger crowd than before protesting, without fear, all of them carrying 'No to mutants' signs.
"Oooh, right, these people! Now I remember now"