Chapter 142 (1/2)
EPISODE 142
Boom-!
The sound seemed to have come from a distance. Upon hearing it, Yoo-seong came back to his senses. He remembered the lightning striking from above. He also remembered how it had hit the Habaek.
However, his thoughts were still in shambles, as if he had been punched hard. His eyes were closing on their own from fatigue that he could hardly bear.
Boom-!
The sound made him notice the smell. It resembled that of a chicken breast. He felt around. It was like his whole body was wrapped in a slightly stiff but soft cushion.
Boom-!
Only then did Yoo-seong realize: he was inside the Habaek’s body.
Boom-!
Yoo-seong tried to move. However, Auto-Hunt was not active, and the monster’s flesh was tightening around him so much that he couldn’t press the button.
“Hueup.”
He wrapped his Aura all over his body and rose upwards as if he were swimming. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he reached the surface and inhaled deeply.
“Poo-ha!”
The first thing he saw was the sky. It was almost dawn.
“Has it already been so long?”
The rain, which had been falling ferociously, had already stopped. A rainbow hung on the far side of the dim sky. Yoo-seong was a little captivated by the beauty that greeted him…
Boom-!
He heard it again. This time, the sound was a little clearer and louder. It wasn’t that difficult to figure out why: the Habaek was dead. Its four colossal legs were stiff and stretched outward. It had been hours since the Habaek died, but its spasms had not yet ended.
Boom-!
Whenever its dead body moved, the earth shook with the sound.
Yoo-seong stepped forward.
Stepping out from the Habaek’s head, he proceeded along the ridge of its neck. The monster’s carcass trembled countless times, yet Yoo-seong remained skillfully balanced. He didn’t need to use Auto-Hunt.
And even if he had, he already knew where it would lead him. The Habaek’s shell had a large area that looked like a combination of three or four sports stadiums, and ridges that rose beyond the size of low-rise buildings covered the creature’s crust.
Yoo-seong wanted to go right into the middle of it.
“Wow.”
Admiration fell unbidden from his mouth. At the center of the Habaek’s rocky scales was a deep blue lake.
‘The monster’s core.’
Just like the Lightning Ape’s horns, this was the Habaek’s source of power.
“Here!” someone cried. At this, Yoo-seong turned.
“Oh!”
They were the people of Hankwang.
“All you…”
These were Hankwang Hunting International members, who looked like they had somehow pulled themselves back together after last night’s disaster. Even after Yoo-seong had turned to lightning, the Habaek had barely been accessible thanks to the post-mortem stiffness.
And now…
“This is it!”
It wasn’t just the hunters.
“Okay! I’ll walk on my feet from now on!” The hunter carrying President Han Kwang-ho knelt and let him down onto the floor.
“There is an uninvited visitor,” remarked Yoo-seong. President Han Kwang-ho turned to look and saw him. Silence quickly filled the scene.
The hunters were all soaking in so much shame that they couldn’t even dare to look at Yoo-seong. It would have been ridiculous for them to get the Habaek’s body. Clearly—especially from a hunter’s point of view—the Habaek belonged to Yoo-seong.
Yet, one person thought otherwise.
“You do not have permission from the proper authorities! You broke into our operational zone and interfered with the mission.”
The President had already known he would encounter Yoo-seong. He had already decided on what he would say.
“Do not even think of claiming credit for this mission. Let it go. This is my loot. I was the one in charge, and if not for your interference, we would have captured the Habaek.”
In principle, he wasn’t wrong. Hankwang had not formally requested support.
Of course, in general, it was customary in the Korean industry that the person who had received unsolicited help would feel humbled and thankful. However, the one speaking to Yoo-seong had never been part of the industry.
“Do you have any objections? I’d be surprised if you did, but I would respond according to the laws of this country. By the rules of the industry you and I are in.”
President Han Kwang-ho was confident. All he needed was a justification. And anyway, all the devices and footage on the site were owned by the Hankwang group. Even if something needed to be verified, it would be easy to remove anything that would damage their reputation.
“I can’t give you a single penny,” the President declared.
The President remembered the figures he’d seen on the monitor only about an hour ago. Drones imported from the United States had been launched directly from Hankwang to scout the site. There were sensors mounted on the drones’ lenses that could detect CE, the energy emitted by hunters. They were used discreetly in situations where the hunters could not be identified with the naked eye.
But, right now, they were being used to detect valuable monster parts. Monsters were the main source of CE. Even with the Habaek dead, the drone had still detected an enormous amount of CE from within the “crystal” beneath its shell.
No matter how ignorant the president was of the field, he knew that those figures detected by the drones were out of the ordinary.
“If you understand…” the President started.
“Stop!”
From across the lake, someone screamed. Everyone, including Yoo-seong, turned to look.
“Please… That’s enough, Grandpa.” Han Jae-gyu’s voice sounded as if his insides were broken. And they really were, although what he felt was not physical pain.
“What, why are you screaming all of a sudden? What’s wrong with you?”
The annoyance was evident in the President’s voice.
“What’s the problem?”
Han Jae-gyu was crying.
It was out of shame. He wiped away his tears with the back of his hand.
Han Jae-gyu was not a hunter that had just come up from nowhere. With that hand, he had steadily built his career in another country and trained himself as a hunter. It was the hunter talking right now.
“We can’t do this. You must stop.”
He knew that, as a hunter, it was the right thing to do. Yoo-seong had saved his life. Not only his but that of every hunter in this operation.
The Habaek had been tearing through the crack little by little before Yoo-seong arrived. It would have escaped and caused a disaster if Yoo-seong hadn’t helped them.
The Hankwang group had almost caused a tragedy, which could have led to a stigma and remorse that a hunter could not simply wash away. Even if Yoo-seong had saved these hunters’ lives, they would have still chosen to die.
“You ungrateful brat!”
The President raised his hand and slapped his grandson.
“Last night’s event must have gotten into your head! What are you talking about? Are you really my grandson with that mindset? Get your act together. You are the grandson of Han Kwang-ho and a member of the Hankwang group! It means you must know when to play and when not to!”
Then the President turned toward the hunters who stood behind them.
“What are you doing? Get your gear and get in there!” The President spat on the ground. He was not in a particularly good mood.
‘I don’t know about anything else, but how could he do that to his grandson in front of everyone?’
Yoo-seong’s nerves were on edge, perhaps as a result of staying up all night. ‘I need to get what I need right away,’ he thought.
“What?”
Despite the President’s orders, no one had moved.
“What are you all doing? Can’t you hear me? Did you all lose your hearing?”
Everyone’s ears were fine. As a matter of fact, they had all heard clearly. Not only the President’s words but also Han Jae-gyu’s.
They had heard him for who he was. Not the grandson of their employer, not their team leader, but a hunter who had shared his feelings.
“I can’t take this!”
Of course, they weren’t much different from their own.
“Yes! I can’t do this!”
Thud-!
Throwing away his diving gear, a gold-class hunter standing right next to Han Jae-gyu shook his head.
Anger immediately emanated from the President’s eyes.
“Who do you think pays your…”
“Of course, it’s your money.”
The President’s words had no effect on the already-determined hunter.
“Isn’t that all you’ve got to give? I’m going to quit. The penalty’s a little bothersome, but I’m sure it’ll work out. Look, it may not look like it, but I’m a gold-class hunter. I am not letting myself be bossed around in exchange for money, especially by someone like you.”
That was just the beginning.