14 Episode 14 - Hunter, Part I (1/2)
Chapter 5. Hunter, Part I
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
1.
It was about five kilometers from the large mart to the Ojung-dong military base. Therefore, Kim Tae-hoon aimed to reach the military base of Ojung-dong by least four AM after leaving the large mart for the first time. In addition, he was planning to mobilize all means and methods to achieve the goal.
He knew better than anyone else the importance of carrying out the goal and planning thoroughly in a war situation. But now he was in the police station even though the time was well past three AM. He even had the time to drink coffee, using a coffee dripper in the boiled water from a portable pot.
”Big brother, is it okay to take time to relax?”
At that sight of Kim, Bang Hyun-wook was suspicious.
Kim, who enjoyed his coffee, as usual, said to Bang in a low voice, ”It's too dangerous for us to move with our minds and bodies clouded with fear, and the first thing we need to do is ease our bodies and minds. Hmm… This coffee has a good taste. I've never drunk this product before.”
Of course, Kim was never able to take a break. However, right now, the three of them were not in normal physical condition. A huge monster that could not be explained by anything had scattered fear in Bucheon City, and the fear was now rooted in every corner of the minds and bodies of his party.
Moving in a situation where it was not extracted properly was like moving in poison.
”Right now, the situation is different from when the dragon appeared. The condition has changed.”
More importantly, this fact did not apply only to Kim and his party. The unidentified dragon had scattered the fear of his presence in Bucheon like a shower. All the things that had settled in Bucheon were exposed to the fear.
After the monsters' attack, which had started around four PM on December 31, the situation came to a lull temporarily and now was out of control.
Like a ship, their boat, which had been drifting quietly, was swept over by huge waves.
Ahn Sun-mi added her opinion to Kim Tae-hoon's. ”The shriek… Most people must have passed out or died because of the fear. Because of the temperature right now… falling into a state of unconsciousness when they can't expect the right help around is virtually the same as freezing to death.”
Of the three, the dragon fear hit her the hardest, and at the same time, her words as a doctor were certainly convincing.
Kim Tae-hoon supplemented her opinion by pouring coffee into her empty cup.
”I wished all of them would be fine, but it's a bigger problem that all of them will not be.”
”What do you mean?”
”It's more likely that there will be something going crazy then fainting.”
Dragon fear was strong. But not everything had fainted to the dragon fear.
Just now, Bang Hyun-wook and Kim Tae-hoon were stunned but did not faint. There must be Awakeners among the survivors, and a high-rank Energy user among them would surely survive.
”It would be people or monsters.”
”The monsters aren't gone yet.”
All the monsters have not disappeared from Bucheon.
As evidence, there were few bodies of the monsters, which made Bucheon City a ghost city.
So where did the monsters go? Did they leave Bucheon, and go to Seoul or Incheon?
It was much more plausible that monsters who had already attacked humans and filled their stomach had hidden in the forests of buildings, taking shelter to avoid the cold winter weather late at night.
Was it not a shelter that humans loved to use, in places like a subway station?
”And if I were a monster, I would rather come out and fill my stomach than stay still at this moment.”
In such a situation, a monster who felt a sense of crisis due to the emergence of an absolute upper predator would try to hide in a more secret place, deep, after filling its stomach before it went crazy or felt hungry again.
In other words, for the time being, monsters would come out and work.
”The ones who are moving now are strong enough to carry out their purpose, not fainting in the face of the fear.”
At least the monsters that were active at this moment were stronger than Goblins or Orcs.
He had to keep the Black Orc in mind, at the very least.
Kim Tae-hoon was waiting for them to quickly fill their stomachs and then hide deep again.
In front of such an explanation, Bang Hyun-wook and Ahn Sun-mi no longer asked additional questions.
Kim Tae-hoon's boiled coffee thawed their cold bodies in the cold weather, and their frightened brains were thawed by chocolate.
In the silence, Kim Tae-hoon looked at his right hand carefully. His right hand gradually began to turn black by the ability Black Skin acquired after killing the Black Orc!
Currently, Kim Tae-hoon's force rank could only turn his skin black up to his wrist. The Black Skin gave him the feeling of wearing an iron glove. It was actually pretty tough. It was not cut by a crude knife, and even hitting the wall as hard as possible, it only stung a little.
'If I kill a monster, I get paid!' This was clear evidence.
'Evidence that I can get something if I kill a monster!
'I wonder what it would be like to kill that monster...'
The evidence reminded Kim Tae-hoon of how he could kill the monster in his mind, while weighed down by the fear of the dragon.
Kim Tae-hoon sipped coffee with a slight smile in his imagination.
2.
There was a stretch of darkened road, along a row of one-story storehouses, full of stopped cars that had lost their owners, and frozen corpses.