Chapter 5 - Chapter 5 (1/2)

All the Hunters still alive heard Jin-Woo's voice.

"!!"

"Instruments?"

A ray of hope found its way into the eyes of the Hunters.

Quite different to back when he told them to kowtow, everyone moved unbelievably quickly. If Jin-Woo was wrong about this, then as soon as arriving near one, they would be killed by the stone statues holding the musical instruments. However, no one here questioned Jin-Woo's words.

Song was the first one to arrive in front of a statue carrying a musical instrument.

"...."

Song controlled his heavy breathing and raised his head to look at the statue. And as if it was a lie, the fingers of the statue moved and strummed on the harp.

Cling, clang...

A beautiful melody flowed out.

"It's working!!"

"Hurry to the statues with instruments!!"

Hunters ran towards the nearest correct statues in hurried footsteps.

The statue with a trumpet began blowing it triumphantly; one with a flute began playing with it; the one holding the lyre strummed on its strings.

"Heok, heok, heok...."

While sensing the approach of his physical limit, Kim somehow arrived in front of the statue that held a buzuka and plopped down to the ground. (TL: I don't know what this buzuka could be. TLed as is from the raw.) (ED: Probably either a Bazooka or a Bouzouki, both from the 1900's.)

Ttiring, ttring....

As soon as the statue began playing the instrument, the god statue stopped chasing after Kim. He must've been overcome with emotions, because Kim then began shedding tears while he stayed down on his knees.

"Sob.... Sob...."

Meanwhile, the god statue turned around. The 'creature' searched around and soon enough, found its next prey.

"God d*mn it."

Jin-Woo spat out a cuss as his gaze met the god statue's.

He then began running hard – so hard that his heart might explode. His back was already soaked through in sweat.

'Why?! Why isn't it working?!'

Jin-Woo's resentful glare landed on the stone statue in front of him. The statue holding a drum showed no signs of moving at all.

THUD!! THUD!! THUD!!

The god statue closed in with frightening speed. He was practically on the other side of the chamber from the d*mn thing, yet the distance between the two shortened in no time at all.

Jin-Woo swallowed down his saliva.

'Could it be that the statue won't play because there are two people here? Me and Miss Ju-Hui?'

He couldn't think of anything else. Why? Because, other statues were playing music just fine as soon a Hunter stood in front of it.

'There is no time to think anymore.'

Jin-Woo put Ju-Hui down and got ready to run to somewhere else.

"M, Mister Jin-Woo....."

Still terrified out of her mind, Ju-Hui clung onto Jin-Woo's sleeve. Jin-Woo calmly whispered in her ear.

"We'll both die if we stay together."

Tears began forming on Ju-Hui's eyes. Her fingers trembled as they held onto his clothes. Unfortunately, there was no time to explain to her in detail. Jin-Woo carefully pried her hand away and began running in the opposite direction as hard as he could.

Boom, boom, boom....

When he glanced back, the statue behind Ju-Hui began beating its drum in a slow but steady rhythm.

'What a relief.'

There was only one thing remaining now: to run to the other statue without getting killed!

Only Jin-Woo hadn't received the protection of the music-playing statues. Quite obviously, the rage of the god statue was solely directed to Jin-Woo and him alone.

Jin-Woo did his best to avoid the foot of the thing that rivalled a building in size and crossed the room in a hurry.

THUD!

THUD!!

He fell and rolled around but still, he somehow managed to avoid getting flattened by the god statue's foot.

"Heok, heok."

He might only have been a rank E, but he was still a close-combat type Hunter so his physique came in handy in situations like this.

'Just a little bit further!! A bit more!'

Jin-Woo kept an eye out on the god statue's movements and ran even harder.

His speed increased.

And when the distance remaining between him and the stone statue was mere a dozen feet...

"No, that's the wrong one!!"

….Mister Song cried out to him.

Jin-Woo had been paying attention to the god statue only; he was stunned by the shout and hurriedly turned his head take a look at his front.

"Ahh!!"

It's not a statue with an instrument?

He belatedly realised that the thing that looked like a musical instrument from afar was actually a shield, instead. And sure enough, the statue mercilessly stabbed down with its shield.

"Heok!"

Jin-Woo hurriedly threw himself to the side.

"Kkyahhk!!"

Ju-Hui screamed.

Jin-Woo rolled on the ground and when he came to a stop, he raised his head to see the god statue standing right in front of his nose.

"It's one thing after another...."

His forehead must've been torn from him rolling on the ground, because blood was flowing down and blurred his vision. His view was restricted and he couldn't look too far away.

Jin-Woo quickly searched around his vicinity.

'An instrument.... an instrument....'

However, no matter how hard he looked, he couldn't see a single statue holding an instrument nearby.

Meanwhile, the god statue raised its leg over Jin-Woo's position.

"Heok!"

THUD!!

Jin-Woo threw himself again and somehow avoided the foot of the statue again.

But he had reached his limit.

A powerful dizziness was assaulting him and for some reason, he couldn't even balance himself.

'Please....'

If there was a real god, he thought that he'd start praying right about now.

It was then, Jin-Woo spotted a stone statue that held neither a weapon or a musical instrument.

'Is that...?'

Jin-Woo decided to bet everything on that statue. He crawled on the ground and arrived in front of the statue in question. He then managed to flip his body around and lied down on the ground so he could see the god statue.

He no longer had any energy to move.

"Pant, pant...."

Jin-Woo stared at the approaching god statue and continued to roughly breathe in and out.

The expression of the god statue was far more contorted compared to before as if it got infuriated further by Jin-Woo's continued evasion.

The god statue now stopped in front of Jin-Woo. Seeing a 'creature' as big as a high-rise blocking his entire view, Jin-Woo felt like he couldn't breathe anymore.

"Pant, pant....."

Did it think he was nothing more than a cornered rat? The god statue simply looked down at him and didn't do anything else.

'This is the end....'

Jin-Woo sensed his own unavoidable death approaching closer after looking straight into the eyes of the god statue.