Devil Hunters is humanity’s answer to this terrible plague. Be it a small devil that lurks around in an abandoned house, or a huge devil that wreaks havoc in a dense neighborhood, the devil hunters are the one that first arrived at the scene of any devil’s disturbance, and eradicate the threat as quickly as possible. But considering the danger and mortality rate in this profession, why do people want to be a devil hunter anyway? Well, let’s dive deeper into all the things that you might not know about being a devil hunter.
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To Be A Devil Hunter
As mentioned before, compared to other professions, even within the armed forces, devil hunters have an incredibly high mortality rate. Sure, a fairly strong or skilled hunter might be able to kill some weak devils, but once a properly strong devil pops up, then even a professional devil hunter might lose their lives. So let’s start with the most basic question, why do people decide to become a devil hunter?
Well, broadly speaking, there are two general answers to this question. Justice and money. Some people decided to be a devil hunter because they themselves are a victim of Devil’s attacks in the past. On the other hand, there are also people who simply decided to be a devil hunter because it is a really lucrative job. Whether you choose to be a public devil hunter or stay as a private hunter, there’s a lot of money to be made in this dangerous profession.
We’ll talk more about both government-sanctioned devil hunters and devil hunters who work in the private sector in the upcoming sections. But the work for both is practically the same. Whenever they get a call about a devil disturbance, they will go to the scene, and take care of it as quickly as possible. And although private devil hunters seem to be competing with the public devil hunters in regard to finding and killing devils, there are times when both parties work with each other, especially when they go against an especially powerful devil.
The Public Safety Devil Hunters
At the beginning of the story, Makima takes Denji to the Public Safety Devil Hunter Tokyo HQ and explains to him that, including civilians, there are more than 1000 active devil hunters in Tokyo alone. The most respected ones among them are those who work as a devil hunter in the Government-sanctioned institution called Public Safety Devil Hunter. This is a nation-wide institution with branches all over Japan.
It’s true that unlike private devil hunters who are free to do their job however they see fit, members of the Public Safety Devil Hunter have to adhere to certain protocols, rules, and regulations. They even have a strict dress code that they have to follow. However, in exchange for all of those limitations, they get paid extremely well. Not only that, they also get to enjoy tons of paid days off and have the best benefits package.
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So what are the jobs and responsibilities of the Public Safety Devil Hunter? Well, as a government’s institution, their first and foremost responsibility is to make sure the citizens are safe from the threat of devils. And just like any other institution, there’s a chain of command to make sure everything is functioning as it should.
Those who work in the field, like Denji and Hayakawa, are the frontline soldiers who fight directly against the rampaging devils. They usually work together in a small squad. Above them are people like Makima, whose job is to assign missions to each squad. Sometimes it’s a search and rescue mission, sometimes it’s an investigation mission, and the most common one of all, the response and kill missions. Above her are the upper echelons. Their job is to create the roadmap of what the institution needs to achieve, and also to hold the members of Public Safety Devil Hunters accountable for their actions.
Private Devil Hunters
Private Devil Hunters usually operate in three different ways. There are those that simply go after any devils that they think they can kill. There are also those who act as a bounty hunter and only target one specific devil at a time. And finally, there are those who work as some sort of mercenary who will only act based on expensive requests.
So how do they make money? Well, we know from Denji’s situation that private devil hunters can sell the devils that they killed to Yakuza. It seems that devils’ body parts fetch quite a large sum of money in the black market. Other than that, Public Safety Devil Hunters also seem to reward them for their services.
As for the bounty hunter and the mercenary, they both actually work in a rather similar fashion. They get a request to locate and kill certain devils. The difference is bounty hunters usually specialize in elusive devils, while mercenaries are often contacted to deal with powerful devils. These types of devil hunters usually get paid a ludicrous amount of money for their services. After all, a particularly skilled private hunter can get a request directly from the government of certain countries.
It’s not unusual for the Public Safety Devil Hunters to employ powerful private devil hunters to help them tackle challenging missions. Likewise, if a private devil hunter thinks they can’t defeat certain devils, they often call the Public Safety Devil Hunter and ask for their help. After all, no matter what kind of devil hunters they are, defeating strong devils in order to prevent loss of human life is always the most important thing.
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