novelraw Chapter 177 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (3)
Chapter 177 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (3)
«I heard there’s a Hunter in Gimhae who specializes in large monsters.»
Leaving the transport plane and the three monster inmates behind, Ghost and Jae-hee headed for the city of Gimhae.
«He apparently handles everything from sea beasts that appear on the coast to predators that come down from the nearby mountains,» Hae-eun continued.
«Seems he’s something of a local celebrity. His callsign is ‘Whale Hunter.’ Sounds like he could be useful for this mission, don’t you think?»
Ghost snorted. “We’ll see about that.”
«In any case, find him, request his official cooperation, and move together.»
“Where is he?”
«He’s based near Gimhae Port. Take a good look around.»
When Busan was wiped off the map, the sea had rushed in, turning the once-inland city of Gimhae into a coastal one. A port had naturally sprung up.
It wasn’t far from Gimhae Airport, where the transport had landed. They followed the sharp, newly carved coastline and arrived in no time.
***
“Never seen your faces around before.”
A group of rough-looking men were gathered at the port entrance, smoking cigarettes.
One of them asked, “What brings you folks here?”
Jae-hee beamed and answered truthfully. “We’re here to hunt a whale!”
“A whale? Heh. You here to get your minnow clipped, kid?”
“Huh? Oh, yes!”
“Well, you came to the right place. My nickname’s the Samgye-dong Urologist, you know. Want me to do it right here, right now?”
The man made a scissoring motion with his fingers, and the men around him erupted in crude, howling laughter.
Jae-hee tilted his head and looked at Ghost. “Master, I don’t really follow… What does he mean?”
Ghost covered her face and heaved a deep sigh before growling at the men, “Say one more stupid thing.”
“And what?”
“And I’ll have you all drafted for national service.”
“…!”
“You don’t want to get conscripted and risk your lives for nothing, do you?”
She pulled an official document from her coat and waved it. The men scrambled backward in unison.
Mobilization. Conscription. Requisition.
For the average citizen, those words were enough to make one’s heart drop. The swaggering men cleared their throats and looked away.
“Hey, now, we didn’t realize you were from… you know. So, uh, what brings you here?”
“We’re looking for Whale Hunter. Where is he?”
“Right when the seasons change, people always show up lookin’ for that crazy bastard. Head to the end of that pier over there.”
At the mention of Whale Hunter, the men’s expressions soured. It was a look of genuine disgust mixed with a sincere, underlying fear.
Jae-hee just kept tilting his head in confusion. These hardened seamen looked tough enough to chew nails. What kind of person could make them react like that?
And so they went to the end of the pier.
Perched on a high point was a crude shack, built like a steeple or a lighthouse. A burly man sat at its entrance, tending to a harpoon.
As Ghost and Jae-hee approached, he scowled.
“What do you want?”
He looked to be in his forties. He was the quintessential grizzled seaman: his sun-scorched face was crisscrossed with long scars, and a metal prosthetic replaced his lower jaw, glinting through a scruffy beard.
Chewing on a toothpick, he gestured with his eyes. “Never seen you before. You here for a handout?”
“Are you Whale Hunter?” Ghost asked.
“What if I am?”
“This is an operation from the Gate Defense Bureau. We need your cooperation.”
Ghost held out the official document, but Whale Hunter didn’t even glance at it.
“First you slap cuffs on us, and now you’re asking for cooperation? What kind of bullshit is that? Ptooey.”
As he spoke, Jae-hee noticed Whale Hunter’s wrists were bare; he wasn’t wearing Null Cuffs.
He whispered to Ghost, “I guess they haven’t finished distributing the cuffs in this area yet.”
“I heard the project was pretty far along up in the Gyeonggi region, but this is the southern tip of the country…”
A tense silence fell between Ghost and Whale Hunter. She had a sword at her hip, and he had a harpoon in his hands. It was a situation where two Awakened could easily come to blows.
But Ghost didn’t even place a hand on her sword’s hilt. Instead, she asked, smoothly, “Is there something you want? Money, perhaps?”
“Don’t need money.”
“We can provide other accommodations. Name your terms.”
Whale Hunter’s eyes narrowed under his thick brows. He jerked his chin toward the shack he was sitting in front of. “As you can see, I live here, protecting this port and hunting any monsters that approach.”
“You’re doing a good thing.”
“My condition is that you guarantee my right to hunt autonomously.”
“Autonomously?”
“I’ll wear those damn cuffs normally. But when a monster shows up, I want the authority to remove them myself and fight.”
He said it as if fighting monsters was his sole purpose in life.
“Agree to that,” Whale Hunter said with another jerk of his chin, “and I’ll help you with this job.”
“Done.”
Ghost’s quick agreement was unexpected.
“If you successfully assist with this mission, I’ll see to it that you’re given the maximum possible leeway in that regard.”
Whale Hunter stared at her blankly for a moment, then dug a pinky finger into his ear. “You’ve got the look of a veteran. What are you hunting that’s so important you’d come all the way out here to humor a guy like me?”
“A flying whale has appeared off the coast of Busan.” Ghost held out the document again. “The mission is to investigate it.”
“…!”
“Feel like reading it now?”
This time, Whale Hunter took the document. As he read, he clicked his tongue.
“So it’s a damn Sky Whale.”
“Sky Whale?” Jae-hee asked.
“The giant whale things, you know,” Whale Hunter clarified. “I call it the Sky Whales.”
His expression turned serious. He took the toothpick from his mouth and flicked it into the sea.
“Thirty years ago, a super-massive Gate opened in Busan, and over a hundred Sky Whales appeared all at once. They conquered the city, and then they just…‘lifted it’ right up into the sky.”
Ghost crossed her arms. “You speak as if you saw it yourself.”
“I did. Up close.”
“…You were a survivor of the Busan Gate.”
“That was my hometown.” Whale Hunter shrugged and gestured toward the distant sky. “Anyway, all those Sky Whales that invaded Busan flew up into the sky along with the city. But you see…”
His upward-pointing finger snapped down.
“The problem is, one of them got left behind.”
“Left behind?”
“Just one from the pod couldn’t fly up with the rest and was abandoned on the ground. Don’t know the exact reason… maybe it was just a calf, maybe it was injured.”
A savage grin spread across his bearded face.
“It’s shown up in the area a few times since then, but I’ve only seen it a handful of times myself. Looks like it’s finally caused some real trouble.”
“…”
“If it’s a hunt for that monster bastard, I’ll gladly help.”
Whale Hunter grabbed his harpoon and shot to his feet.
“The reason I live like this out here is to hunt that very bastard.”
And with that, Whale Hunter was on the team.
Ghost had planned to conduct the operation from the air in the transport plane, but Whale Hunter insisted they take his boat.
“It flies through the air. Wouldn’t a plane be better?” she asked.
He snorted. “For the past few decades, I’ve killed every monster I’ve faced from this boat.”
Moored next to his shack was a vessel reinforced with layers upon layers of steel plating. It was a small fishing boat that had been subjected to a hodgepodge of countless modifications.
“The big ones, especially… I finished them all off with the harpoon cannon mounted on the bow.”
Sure enough, a massive harpoon was seated in a cannon-like launcher at the front of the boat.
Jae-hee’s eyes lit up at the sight of it, and he bounced on his feet. “Whoa, this boat is so cool! It looks like it could transform!”
Ghost broke into a cold sweat. “Isn’t this less of a boat and more of a floating tank…?”
Whale Hunter shrugged. “I’ve poured my entire fortune into modifying and upgrading it every day. You could say the boat itself is my Gate Gear.”
“Hmm.”
“If what you’re looking for is really that Sky Whale, it’ll swat a paper-thin plane out of the sky in an instant. You’ll be safer on my heavily armed, sturdy boat.”
He made a circle with his finger. “So, what’ll it be? Of course, you’ll have to pay a small fee for its use.”
Just then, Hae-eun’s voice came over Ghost’s comms.
«Do as he says.»
“Are you sure?”
«Transport planes are expensive. It’d be a pain in the ass if we lost one to a monster. Better to lose his boat. Take his boat.»
Jae-hee broke into a cold sweat.
“Oh, that’s the reason?”
***
After loading the trio of monsters from the transport plane, Whale Hunter’s boat set sail.
VROOOOOM!
The old, heavy boat left Gimhae Port behind, cutting powerfully through the waves as it headed for Busan.
“The wind feels great!”
Jae-hee had only ever been on massive ships, so the small boat was a refreshing change.
He was excitedly waving his arms near the bow when he suddenly turned to Ghost.
“By the way, Master, what kind of city was Busan?”
It was a natural question, as this would be his first time there.
Ghost was crouched in a corner of the deck, her long hair whipping in the sea breeze. She lifted her blue eyes and, after a moment, answered readily.
“I only went a few times when I was little. My parents took me to Gwangalli Beach.”
“A beach? What’s that?”
“Back in the day, they used to designate and manage specific areas for people to swim in the sea.”
“Wow. I see.”
“It was disgustingly crowded. I’d never seen a beach with so many people.” Ghost hummed, lost in the memory. “I don’t know if the swimming was any fun, but I remember the milmyeon was delicious.”
“Milmyeon?”
“It’s one of the specialties from the Busan area. Similar to spicy cold noodles, but made with flour noodles instead of buckwheat. The broth is different, too…”
Jae-hee swallowed hard at her description.
“The place we went served it with spicy seasoned kodari on top. I hated dried fish when I was a kid, but for some reason, that was just so damn good.”
“Kodari?”
“Dried pollock.”
“Huuuh…”
“…There should still be a shop in Gimhae. Want to go after the mission?”
“Oh yeah!”
As master and disciple were engrossed in their conversation about food, Whale Hunter, who was at the helm in the wheelhouse, raised his voice.
“Now’s not the time for talkin’ about noodles! Look ahead!”
Ghost and Jae-hee looked in the direction the boat was heading. Far in the distance, a colossal shape floated over the water like an island in the sky.
Whale Hunter’s voice was laced with a grim humor. “Looks like we’re in luck. Found him right away.”
There, over the place where the city of Busan had once stood—a place now covered by nothing but seawater—was the mission’s target.
Vwoooooo…!
A giant whale, hovering in midair.