The Hunter Games: A Monster Hunting LitRPG

Another failed mission. That was two for two so far. When we met up with Hayashi, he mentioned the civilian that had died, our friendly near-retiring private chauffeur. All I could say in return were a few words of condolences, and that was it. I had no excuse; we screwed up. Hayashi was also harsher on me since he made it clear that I was the leader. Once we were back at base, he pulled me aside and emphasized that.

As we debriefed by the courtyard, Hayashi’s expression darkened for a brief moment. I was familiar with that look of disappointment stretched along his face. It was the same look my mother would give me when I fucked up. “We can’t afford any more of these failures, can we?” he said, and I answered him back with emptiness in silence. “That’s two in a row, now.”

“I know.” I muttered defeatedly. “The stakes are high; I know what’s at risk.”

“Then you better find a way to turn this around, or I’ll have no choice but to disband this squad.”

I bowed respectfully. “Yes, sensei.”

“Tell me, what have you observed within your team?”

“We were more coordinated,” I admitted. “Unlike the last time, we were on the same page.”

“Talk to me about Naomi.”

“I have only good things to say about her, really. She’s reliable.”

“Then why didn’t she see Rachi zero in on the carrier vehicle?”

“I don’t see how she could have. Our enemy had a sniper rifle. And according to the report, she not only had a weapon enhancer as a meta, but she could also teleport. So, no perch was needed when she took that shot. And we were out in the open, too.”

“So, you’re telling me that Naomi couldn’t have prevented that man from dying. How about you?”

I lifted my head up. “Huh?”

“You saw something back there at the library, but you chose to ignore it.”

“I didn’t put that on the report….”

“Did you forget that I was watching?”

“Right… well, I didn’t see anything, so I definitely didn’t ignore it. I buzzed in with Naomi, and she said that the coast was clear.”

“Right, in her area. At the time, you were told where Naomi would be posted, in an area too far for her to scope the potential threat following you.”

“Wait a minute,” I said, my heart suddenly racing. “I swear, I didn’t see anything! I just had a hunch, that’s all. I thought that my mind was playing tricks on me. No way did I think we were being tailed from the starting point!”

“Are you sure you didn’t see anything?”

“To withhold information like that and jeopardize the mission?”

“Perhaps you wanted to believe there was nothing there, so you could move on with the mission,” he insisted. “When you were leaving the library, you caught a glimpse of it, didn’t you? Someone ducking behind an air vent. It was just a shadow, barely even there. You didn’t think much of it at the time….”

“No, I–”

“But you should have trusted your instincts,” he continued, his words making me hold my breath. “Even if it was just for a fleeting second…. And yet, you didn’t say anything to Naomi, did you? You could have ordered her to scope the area. Instead, you decided to remain silent in your suspicions, correct?”

“I-I….” The words didn’t want to come out. “Yes, sir….”

“Would you mind enlightening me as to why?”

“I... refuse to take the blame for this,” I said, Hayashi shocked at my statement. “I didn’t see anything, and if I did, it wasn’t anything alarming as a potential threat to our mission. The wing of a bird, or a petal off a flower falling. That’s it. I was so confident that I didn’t bother telling Naomi to investigate. Directing her to move from position would have been more detrimental. There were no bad judgment calls here, and I didn’t cost us that man’s life.”

He looked at me sternly and silently, before he said in a monotone voice, “Part of being a leader is admitting when you’re wrong, and admitting when you’re right. In this case, you were right.”

I let go of my breath and gaped at him confused.

“I wanted to test your level of accountability. The fact that you didn’t cave into my guilt trip is a good sign. For a moment, I thought you’d blame yourself for that man’s death, but you turned around and surprised me. Remain firm in your affirmations, always.”

I bowed. “Yes, sensei.”

“Lastly, tell me about Reina.”

“She did well. She took care of business, as always.”

“In what sense?”

“She did better in our second mission, take my word for it. Neither of us knew how to drive, but she got behind the wheel and was the one who brought Bridget to her destination using Omo’s digital gps. Just like the report mentioned. But… Master Hayashi….” I paused, my face churning from my upcoming question. “I thought you said that shadow walkers were after that girl?”

“Sources said. Like I told you before, intel filtering through the corporation will not always be accurate. You’ve witnessed this already in your first mission. You will have your bad grapes and your good grapes. Information is not perfect in this line of work.”

“I understand, but in the same light, we are risking lives on potentially inaccurate intel.”

“What do you mean?”

“The masked girl, I mean, Ersi. If it wasn’t for Reina’s better judgment, she could have–”

“And that’s the point you’re forgetting. Her better judgment was what saved her. As hunters, it is your job to make those decisions.”

Again, that feeling of this being over my head sunk in. The amount of responsibility was immense, but it was something I’d just have to learn to facilitate through each and every mission.

It wasn’t going to be easy, but it had to be done.

Master Hayashi sighed. “It’s an imperfect system. But we work with what we have. The corporation relies on a vast network of sources, and sometimes those sources are wrong or misleading. Other times, the situation changes rapidly. What was true yesterday may not be today. Remember, adaptation, resourcefulness, and intuition–you are going through this trial period to learn how to apply all of those things. It will not always make sense from your vantage point. But you must trust the process. You must trust that those higher up in the corporation have a broader perspective and access to information you do not. Even when things seem unclear, your role is to carry out the mission as assigned, to the best of your abilities. Focus on that, and you will do fine.”

“Yes, sensei.”

“And yet, something is still bothering you,” he said, his eyes softening on me. “What is it?”

“What I reported in the file, about Ersi, about what she said.”

“Feeling sorry for her is human. But what happened to her mother doesn’t pardon what she and her team did to Omo.”

“I understand that. What’s bugging me is that there’s talent in Utoro despite what people are saying. It’s just that they’d rather be selfish with it than help the masses.”

“They don’t have a duty to uphold, and they don’t feel inclined to put themselves out there for the betterment of society. Once you understand that, you’d find that there’s nothing wrong with this philosophy. Our values are just different.”

“It’s just a scary thought, is all. I mean, it’s bad enough that we have to worry about monsters–we have to keep a look out for metas, too?”

He paced further into his garden, his fingers barely grazing the soft petals as he mused. “I can’t blame you for thinking this way. You’ve lived a very sheltered life. Despite your district being the most dangerous of the three, I could tell by your character that you haven’t experienced everything this world of ours has to offer. Soon you will learn that there are three true evils of this world–flesh eaters, the rogue gifted, and humans associated with flesh eaters.”

I stared at him, eager for him to elaborate. “Flesh eaters are simple–they work in a very code-like manner. They hunt, they torment, and they feed endlessly. It’s not black and white, but something close enough to it that their nature seems predictable enough. For the most part. Then you have the gifted rogues. Special people like you and me, however, they are corrupt with power. They might as well be flesh eaters, but they are more complex than that. They usually don’t operate systematically, which makes them unpredictable and very dangerous. Meta humans without a purpose are like ticking time bombs,” he continued. “They have power at their fingertips but no guiding principles on how to use it. That kind of recklessness puts everyone around them at risk. At least with the flesh eaters, we know what drives them–their endless hunger. And the lawful gifted like us have a code of ethics that guides our actions. But the rogues… their motivations are often unclear. Power for the sake of power. Violence without reason. They sow chaos wherever they go.”

“And associated humans?”

“The worst out of the three,” he said, making my breath hitch. “Personal opinion, but one I can validate each and every time. They enable suffering and are master manipulators. What’s worse than having shifters turn into your loved ones are your loved ones themselves condoning wickedness. They hold auctions in the black market, bidding off body parts, family members, children, infants… casting them into the darkest parts of the underground for profit and gain. I’ve heard reports of weeping mothers being dragged from their children, husbands ripped away from their wives. And all while their enablers cheer them on, lining their pockets with each innocent taken. It churns the gut to think of it. But monster slaves are beyond appeals to mercy or morality.”

My eyes grew stark the more he talked.

“They host their own version of the games, luring humans to play as unwilling contestants for the entertainment of flesh eaters. They broadcast live hunts as sport, and have an intricate working system that streamlines the business. For the longest time, we’ve tried to expose this operation, but finding the parties involved has been difficult thus far.” He scoffed. “You have to be a certain evil to lure innocent lives into the hands of predators, while being prey yourself.” I clenched my fists as he continued. “Their depravity knows no bounds. They pit human against human in brutal death matches, forcing them to maim and kill one another for nothing more than twisted amusement.”

I could feel my hands trembling as the rage coursed through me. How could anyone be so cruel, so monstrous, as to auction off human lives for profit? To rip families apart and feed the innocent to beasts for sport?

“Do you think Mr. Halloway is capable of that?” I asked him, Hayashi turning his head to me. “Do you have a personal connection with our escortee’s father to know if he is?”

“No, I don’t. However, I think it is very much possible. It’s more common than you might think. That being said, I am having an investigation done, and appointing another mentor to follow up on it.”

“Why not us?”

“For one, they’ve seen your faces. And two, I already have another mission lined up for your team.”