Chapter 118 - Chapter 118 (1/2)

One year before the Korea-Japan united raid team came knocking on the island....

The ant queen began thinking.

- 'We must leave this island.'

Other lifeforms that should've served as their food source had all disappeared from the island, and the incidents of its children devouring each other occurred frequently now. There was no source of food on this island to sustain the citizens of the queendom now that its population had swelled up to several thousand strong.

- 'This can not continue.'

Abandon the existing nation and seek out a fertile land overflowing with other lifeforms to establish a new one – if the domination of the island was the queen's first task, then this problem would be its second one.

However, the queen remembered. It remembered all the powerful invaders that stepped on the island several times before.

The queen's forces managed to repel them, but the nation had to suffer great losses as well. Far too many of the queen's children had to be sacrificed. Would its children be able to defeat those beings if they went to another land?

- 'Need stronger soldiers.'

It needed a single most powerful soldier to lead the citizens of the nation. And so, the queen decided upon the direction of their evolution.

Half a year later.

By gathering the magic power it already possessed, as well as all the nutrients it had amply absorbed before, the queen gave birth to a brand new life. It was the greatest combat weapon imaginable, born solely for the sake of dealing with the strong humans.

The queen's determination to create the most powerful soldier there was, combined with the original order of killing all humans it heard in its head, created a horrifying monster that simply exceeded all common sense.

The monster was born with the skill, 'Gluttony'.

By consuming its opponents, this new monster could turn their magic energy as well as a portion of their knowledge into its own.

- 'I want to become stronger.'

The monster realised what its powers were early on and began devouring its own kin, but the queen left it alone. What this monster wanted was the same as the queen's desire, after all.

The queen was greatly happy as 'he' grew stronger and stronger day by day.

It was happy because 'he' had already exceeded the power of 'his' mother now. And without encountering a single hitch, the army 'he' would lead was getting closer to completion as well. That was why.

- 'Just a little more time....'

In the midst of that....

The human invaders entered this land once more. Their numbers were lower this time, but they were far stronger than before. However, the queen laughed at them.

In preparation of the ants waging war against humanity in another land, this should serve as a great opportunity to test out the powers of 'him'.

The queen, as usual, sent out all of the soldiers guarding its castle along with 'him'.

Just as the queen desired so, 'he' went out and completed the first mission 'he' was given. But when 'he' returned, the queen was already dead.

'He' was enraged.

And thankfully, there were enough strong humans left on this island that would serve as the outlet for 'his' rage.

First of all, the king of the humans was killed. And then, it systematically annihilated all the subordinates next to the dead king. One of the subordinates cried out before he got killed off.

He asked just what the hell 'he' was.

After devouring humans through the skill 'Gluttony', 'he' now possessed the ability to reason. 'He' then began thinking to itself.

'What... am I?'

Up until that point, 'he' was a soldier of the queen.

But now, with the queen's death at the hands of the humans, what should 'he' call itself now?

A sole existence that must lead the remaining soldiers of the queendom. 'He' only knew one word to denote such an existence.

'….King.'

'He' had killed off the enemy king already, so 'he' had definitely satisfied the requirement to become one now.

Grab.

The ant king bit onto the head of the remaining human. But, then....

Suddenly, the ant king's head swivelled in the direction of the ant castle. There was an enormous aura rushing out like a fierce storm from where the queen used to live.

That level of power couldn't have come from a common foot soldier.

'…..A king?'

Immediately sensing that an enemy that could threaten itself had appeared, the ant king slowly rose up towards the ant castle.

***

Just what kind of a calamity was this?

The TV station's situation room used to be enveloped in the celebratory mood, but now, everything felt sombre and dreary like a funeral.

The 'live' broadcast showing up on the viewers' TVs suddenly got cut off with the entrance of a strange, winged ant monster. Understandably, they began flooding the station with phone calls of angry complaints and urgent inquiries.

Ringgg...!

Ringgg....!!

One of the employees walked over to the station's director and cautiously made his report.

"Sir, our communication network is about to collapse from all the calls made by the irate viewers."

The station's director raised his head.

"So what? Are you suggesting that we should broadcast live the scenes of our Hunters getting ripped to shreds by a single ant monster??"

"N-no, sir."

The broadcast got cut off just as the Hunters were getting one-sidedly beaten up by that mysterious ant monster. It was understandable that the curiosity of the viewers would skyrocket.

However, that didn't mean they could broadcast the scenes of Hunter Mah Dong-Wook getting tortured, nor the moment that Hunter Min Byung-Gu got devoured.

The director buried his face in his hands and let out a helpless moan.

"It's over.... It's all over."

The once-in-a-lifetime gamble where the fate of his station rode on, was now going down the drain because of one d*mn ant monster.

"It's over....."

Heavy, grim silence filled up the situation room. No one person was brave or dumb enough to open their mouths now. Except for one, that was.

"Huh??"

The producer staring at the real-time feed with an ashen complexion suddenly opened his mouth.

"D-Director!!"

"....What now?"

"Someone just appeared in the location out of nowhere!"

The director didn't bother to raise his head up and grimly replied.

"Unless it's Jesus himself, don't report to me every little thing that happens over there. Got that?"

"However...!!"

"....It's all over."

Realising that talking wouldn't get him anywhere, the producer increased the previously-lowered volume up way higher.

Kiieeehck-!!

Kiieehck!!

The situation room was immediately filled up with the screams of the ant monsters.

The director quickly raised his head up out of sheer shock. It wasn't just him, either. Everyone present within the situation room all rushed to the live feed monitor. And soon, sounds of "Oh, oh!" came out amongst those watching the screen.

"..."

The director sitting there in a daze finally managed to lift his butt off the chair. When he came in closer, the employees stepped aside to let him through.

The screen of the live-feed monitor was reflected in the director's eyes.

"Oh, dear lord..... Jesus holy Christ."

The director suddenly began calling out to Jesus, which he didn't even believe in, to begin with, and hurriedly shouted out to the rest of the employees.

"What the hell are you all doing here? Why aren't getting ready to start broadcasting this?! Are you going to take responsibility if we lose out on the current audience rating?!"

The producer hurriedly tried to dissuade his director who didn't even bother to hide his boiling excitement.

"But, sir! If we start broadcasting again, we'll be showing the live feed, instead! There won't be any delay in the transmission, and everything will be shown in real time, sir! We won't be able to do anything if another emergency situation breaks out!"

The delayed transmission time of ten minutes between the feed and the broadcast had run out by now. Which left the director with the decision of going with either the real-time feed, or end the broadcast altogether right here.

"....It's all or nothing."

"Pardon me?"

"We've already stopped broadcasting midway, anyway. Things won't get any worse than it already has."

"Well.... I, I guess so...?"

A Hunter's sudden appearance was caught on the camera. No one could tell whether he was a Korean or a Japanese. Heck, it was unknown if he was a Hunter at all, but with his appearance, the director's gamble that seemed to be over for good suddenly gained one last shot at the glory.

The director issued a new order with a determined expression firmly etched on his face.

"Switch it on. Switch it on, now."

He then pulled a chair closer to the producer and settled down there.

"Our station's fate rides on that man, you got that?"

***

"Euhhhk!"

Even though he was being pushed into the figurative cliff, the cameraman didn't regret anything. Anyone would've dreamed at least once of doing something like this when they were young.

...To become a hero.

If that was impossible, then at least, to become a support to the true hero.

During the time he did menial jobs for the TV station and earned his experience that way, he never imagined that he'd be blessed with an opportunity to do so in his lifetime.

But then, he Awakened into a rank A Hunter, and by earning experience fitting for his rank, he was able to get to this point in his life. Thanks to that, he got to clearly capture the scene of Hunters proudly representing South Korea successfully raid the boss of a rank S Gate.

'I'm the one who caught that on film. Yes, me.'

And with the footage he captured, many people would come to know the valiant sacrifices these rank S Hunters made for the purpose of the extermination of the ant monsters. That was more than enough for him.

He felt like that all of his efforts spent in studying filming techniques and working as a Hunter was finally being paid off here. But, if there was one thing he was a bit regretful about, then that would be....

'Dad...'

His father, who looked after the cameraman all alone after they lost his mother to cancer. Thinking that he'd not get to see his father again, he felt a deep pain in his heart.

Kwajeeck!!