Chapter 9 - Bounty Hunt (3) (1/2)
2 weeks later (1)
Two awakened men in protective coats decided they should go get something to eat at the convenience store nearby while waiting for their mission.
While the other one was busy looking for food, the man looking at his cellphone opened his mouth.
“What did you say again yesterday?”
“What?”
“Scavenger.”
I-iss!
A man with a hood on unexpectedly dropped the drink he was holding. The bottle rolled on the floor with a loud noise.
The two Awakeners looked at him for a moment but continued on as he was insignificant.
“You still have him?”
“Yes. It’s the first time a single criminal had lived so long.”
The man, who was surfing on the internet, laughed at the comments.
“Haha, well you look at that? Aren’t you good scavenger that led the rescue of the people?”
“What good scavenger are you talking about? They’re all motherfuckers,” the harsh words automatically popping out of the other awakener’s mouth.
It was still difficult to receive favorable responses from the awakened.
The man wearing a hood accidentally overheard their conversation.
He laughed boisterously about it.
It’s been two weeks since Il-hyun awakened.
* * *
It’s been over twenty years since a monster’s first appearance.
Today, it’s not an exaggeration to say that detecting a gate was the most important task for every country worldwide.
If he missed the gate’s creation once, he had no choice but to suffer enormous damage in his unprepared state.
The monster cannot be removed immediately, and the problem grew bigger if left unattended.
Secondary damage, such as breeding or contamination of the monsters coming out of the gate, was more difficult to convert into money.
Governments around the world have spent countless taxes to prevent that from happening. They launched sensitive satellites and installed detectors in cities and valleys.
However, no matter how much attention was put into detection, it was impossible to predict a gate that had not yet appeared.
Gates that appeared suddenly were quickly notified and responded to as soon as possible.
And the people in charge of that is the Korean government’s Disaster Monitoring Department.
“Move quickly!”
The manager, who was unable to leave the office after 9 o’clock at night, said nervously.
The department had turned upside down because of the gate that appeared in the Seoul residential area.
“Did you get the wavelength analysis results?”
“Gate rating is E1, 12 minutes until the advent of the monster.”
“Shit! I expected it, but it’s faster than I thought.”
If he looked closely at the gate’s appearance, he could see each gate’s approximate characteristics.
The manager had been doing this for over ten years, and he noticed that it would be active in less than 30 minutes from the first picture received.
He immediately called it an emergency and contacted the correspondent and the awakened person in charge to respond.
And here was the Disaster Observation Department.
The world’s best equipment and workforce succeeded in completing detection and analysis within three minutes of the gate’s appearance.
A 15-minute gate was almost a surprise gate.
And now, the remaining time until the activation was going into 12 minutes.
Time was running out.
“I don’t think there are any ace monsters, but it seems that their count is quite high.”
“Are Awakeners going to the field?”
“The scene on the other side is under the jurisdiction of C & A, but they’re still far from the field.”
“Then hand it over to another company that’s sending awakened people around!”
“I told them to wait, but C & A doesn’t want to transfer.”
“Do those people only care to make money? Ignore it and hand it over!”
The chief felt terrified.
He worked with hundreds of companies that we’re crazy about Ether and money-making; it was not strange that he became upset about it.
He looked at the watch nervously.
The extraordinary scene was going as planned, but 12 minutes isn’t enough to properly install the barrier.
“The traffic signal control is said to be over. What do you do now?” a newcomer unfamiliar with the situation had asked with an anxious look.
“How do you do it? It’s slipping out of our control. I hope the people who went out to the field do it properly.”
* * *
“Okay, let’s go! It’s worthwhile waiting in the streets to get a job,” said the man who ended the call while clapping his hands.
Two cars stood on the roadside, and seven Awakeners, who were smoking, moved quickly.
“But can you cope with less than 10 minutes left?” The man holding the steering wheel asked.
Rather than doing well, the concern was that it took time for them to arrive.
“It will be alright. We only need to catch the monster.”
“The police should do the care and rescue. When I think of the hawks behind the scenes caring only about the money they pay for taxes, my anger grows.”
The awakened people in the first car giggled.
The light beacon and siren rang, and two cars competed along the night.
“Whoa!”
A man riding in the passenger seat opened his mouth while they drove wildly.
“Hey, aren’t we meeting Scavenger this time?”
“What? who?”
“You know, there are scavengers that come out only by choosing a timely gate.”
“Alas.”
The awakener nodded. He knew who they were talking about.
The guy who suddenly appeared two weeks ago has become quite popular these days.
Rumors spread more quickly because scavenger was a sensitive issue on this ground.
He had been scavenging in Korea for two weeks and was not caught, but he was active throughout Seoul.
The most unusual thing was that he only went to places where evacuation was not appropriately done.
Perhaps the barricade was not correctly made, and it was speculated that he wanted to steal the monsters, but many points didn’t make sense.
“Yes, it is. Didn’t you say it almost appeared on the Seoul side?”
“He has a disguise ability, but why is he doing scavenging? He must be a stupid person.”
“Probably his interest.”
The unidentified scavenger changed face every time he appeared on the scene.
Had the body and the manner of crime not been identical, they wouldn’t have known it was the same person.
There were rumors about IRC’s media activity, an international crime organization, and owners of abilities dealing with strange animals. All kinds of weird speculations and rumors were floating about.
“I don’t think it’s going to appear…If you come across it, don’t hesitate and miss the opportunity.”
“Okay, okay.”
They found and pulled a car in the middle of the centerline of the road when they arrived at the main apartment complex entrance.
Eight Awakeners got out of the car at once.
“Yeah, the guys are fast.”
Police were already on the scene and were pulling people out.
Although it was weak, they were still building a barricade with an iron fence.
The man approached one of the police officers on the move.
“You work hard!”
“Oh, you’re finally here! There’s 1 minute left remaining until the monsters appear. You have to go inside,” the police said urgently.
In contrast, the awakener walked effortlessly and nodded.
“Yes, yes. Monsters, we’ll deal with them, so please get them out.”
“Yes, then please.”
At that time, an urgent announcement was reported on the police man’s radio, where he’d buckled it on his waist.
—Damn it, activate the gate! Activate the gate! I’ll step back!
“This…”
The police were embarrassed and clutched at their foreheads.
“We will hold the guys coming from the outside, so please handle the inside.”
“Erai, jump fast! It bothers me.”