novelraw Chapter 179 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (5)
Chapter 179 : Mission 11: Come Back to Busan Port (5)
Jae-hee scrambled to retrieve the Flying Tentacle God and the Rose Princess from the sea.
Gurgling and coughing, the Flying Tentacle God was finally hauled back above the surface. Somehow, it had managed to snag an octopus on the end of one of its tentacles.
It held the creature up, staring at it for a long moment before muttering quietly, “Dad…?”
The Rose Princess, rescued next, had a large starfish plastered to her face.
With a weak arm, she peeled it off and also mumbled, “Daddy…?”
“Why are you two calling seafood ‘dad’…?” Jae-hee wondered aloud.
Watching the Monster Unit’s pathetic state from the wheelhouse, Whale Hunter roared, “Amateurs… y’all just sit tight and watch how it’s done!”
VROOOOM!
The boat surged forward, charging toward the Sky Whale.
“This is how you hunt a whale!”
A startled Ghost shouted, “Hey! You got a plan?”
“I’ve spent my whole life hunting monsters on this sea! And I’m the one who’s been waiting to catch that Sky Whale!” Whale Hunter bellowed, spinning the helm hard as he glared at the creature in the sky.
“I think I’ve given you lot enough of a chance. From now on, we do it my way!”
Jae-hee gave Ghost an uncertain look. “What do we do?”
“Well… for now, let’s leave it to the professional.”
Executing a maneuver that was less a turn and more a drift on the open sea, Whale Hunter aligned the boat’s broadside with the Sky Whale and slammed a row of buttons on the console.
Five harpoon cannons mounted along the side of the vessel fired in unison.
THUNK! THUNK! KABOOM!
Five massive harpoons shot across the dozens of meters separating them from the airborne whale.
The Sky Whale conjured a vortex to shoot them down, but the harpoons tore through the swirling water with ease and plunged toward its colossal body.
With a series of wet thuds, the harpoons sank into the startled whale’s flesh.
As the creature writhed in agony, Whale Hunter let out a triumphant cry.
“How do you like that, you bastard! Last time, you deflected them all, so I replaced every last harpoon head with armor-piercing Gate Gear!”
Jae-hee was aghast. “These harpoons are all Gate Gear?”
“Didn’t I tell you? This whole boat is Gate Gear!” Whale Hunter slapped the boat’s armored hull.
And it was true. The boat’s engine was powered by a Gate Core, and its hull was fashioned entirely from monster bones and hides.
Ghost whistled, impressed. “What a nutter. How much did you sink into this thing?”
“Every monster spoil I’ve ever taken and every cent I’ve ever earned went into this boat!” Whale Hunter growled, his voice tinged with madness. “All to catch that bastard!”
Vwoooo…!
As the impaled Sky Whale twisted its body and began to retreat, the lines attached to the harpoons spooled out from their mechanisms.
“We’ll wear it down like this and buy some time,” Whale Hunter said, increasing the boat’s speed to keep pace with the fleeing whale. “Let’s see how you handle a war of attrition!”
And so it began.
The Sky Whale struggled to create distance, trying desperately to pull the harpoons free, but they were designed not to come out once embedded.
And given its immense size, it wasn’t particularly fast to begin with.
Whale Hunter’s specially modified boat, however, doggedly matched its speed, maintaining the distance between them.
The chase stretched on across the waters off Busan.
BWROOOOAR!
Finally unable to bear it any longer, the Sky Whale let out a furious roar and dove headfirst into the sea with a great splash. The impact sent a mountain of a wave crashing over the area, rocking the boat violently.
“Trying to escape into the sea? Heh, not a chance. I’m not letting you go.”
Whale Hunter was confident.
But Jae-hee noticed something was wrong. “Uh… Captain? The harpoon lines aren’t paying out anymore.”
“What?”
While the Sky Whale had been fleeing, the lines had been steadily unspooling, taut with tension.
Now, they were slack.
“This means…” Ghost hooked one of the limp lines with the tip of her scabbard, a cold sweat breaking out on her brow. “If it’s not running away… does that mean it’s coming for us?”
“…!”
The instant he heard her, Whale Hunter frantically spun the helm, trying to change course.
The next moment—KRA-BOOM!
The massive whale erupted from the depths, its body tearing along the side of the boat.
Jae-hee was getting drenched by the waves crashing over the deck when his eyes met the whale’s for a split second.
“Aaaahhhhh! I think our friend is really pissed!”
“Tch…!”
Whale Hunter groaned.
He had managed to evade a direct hit and save the boat from sinking, but the armor plating on the port side had been completely torn away.
In the process, the mounted harpoon cannons were ripped from their fixtures and dragged into the sea.
Vwoooo…
With the harpoons, lines, and entire cannon assemblies dangling from its side, the Sky Whale circled once in the air before diving back into the water.
Having lost all the harpoons connected to the cannons, the boat no longer had any means of holding on to the Sky Whale.
“Dammit…”
In the wheelhouse of the boat, which was now spinning in place from the impact, Whale Hunter sank into his seat, utterly defeated.
He clutched his forehead. “Lost it again.”
Meanwhile, on deck, Jae-hee, soaked to the bone, flashed a guileless smile at Ghost.
“Master! That was so much fun! Is this what you meant by going to the beach?!”
Ghost just shook her head slightly, looking at her student who was grinning like an idiot despite having narrowly escaped being drowned.
“…You’re going to catch a cold. Go dry yourself off.”
***
Ghost was ready to declare the mission a failure and head back.
The Monster Unit had potential, but their opponent was all wrong.
The Sky Whale could move freely between sea and sky, and its size and durability were off the charts. If they had come with a dedicated long-range fireteam, they might have stood a chance.
But with two close-quarters sword specialists and three monsters who barely followed orders, it was a hopeless endeavor.
She had planned to return to Gimhae Port and immediately board a transport plane, but a problem arose.
“The engine’s busted?”
The collision with the Sky Whale had done a number on the boat.
Whale Hunter, emerging from the engine room, shook his grease-stained face.
“It’s completely dead. Luckily, I think I can replace it with the spare, but it’ll still take a few hours to repair.”
“That’s not good…” Ghost muttered.
Jae-hee asked, “What if we contact the commander?”
“We’re in the middle of the open ocean. There are no cell towers nearby. No signal.”
It seemed they had no choice but to drift at sea and wait for the engine repairs to be completed.
While Whale Hunter worked on the engine, Jae-hee, with nothing better to do, volunteered to help repair the boat’s side armor.
Feeling awkward just watching her disciple work, Ghost lent a hand as well.
“Thanks for the help. Let’s eat something before we continue.”
During a short break from the repairs, Whale Hunter cooked them a light meal.
Jae-hee’s eyes lit up as he accepted a bowl. “Whoa!”
Inside was a mix of red sauce, noodles, sesame oil, and slices of raw fish.
“Master! Is this that Busan milmyeon you were talking about?!”
Ghost had already picked up her chopsticks and was stirring the contents of her bowl.
She replied, “This is just noodles.”
“Then is this that kodari stuff?!”
“This is just raw fish.”
Jae-hee vigorously mixed his bowl, slurped down a mouthful, and his eyes went wide.
“Wow! It’s not milmyeon, but it’s delicious, Mr. Whaler! You’re a master chef!”
“Heh… this kid’s kinda cute.”
Whale Hunter shoveled the noodles from his own bowl into his mouth in one go. Chewing thoughtfully, he stared out at the water and began to speak.
“I used to like milmyeon.”
“Oh, really?”
“I’m from Busan.”
Setting down his empty bowl, Whale Hunter pulled a soju bottle from his coat.
“The day Busan was destroyed… I watched the whole thing happen up close.”
“…”
“It’s as vivid as yesterday. That was the day I had a huge fight with my older brother.”
Whale Hunter uncapped the bottle and pointed its neck at Jae-hee.
“Back then… I was a little younger than you are now. A total teenage brat. A real angsty, nihilistic little shit.”
Jae-hee listened to Whale Hunter’s story as he ate his noodles.
“My brother was the breadwinner for our family. Always used to tell me we had to fight tooth and nail to survive. But I was young, and I couldn’t understand him.”
He chuckled grimly and put the bottle to his lips.
In a dying world like this, why bother trying so hard? No matter how you live, it’s all going to end anyway.
His hollow eyes stared out at the empty surface of the sea—the surface where a city once stood before the ground itself was ripped away.
“That day, I’d skipped school again and was hanging out with some bad kids in a back alley when my brother found me. We got into a massive fight.”
“He was angry, saying he worked so hard for my sake, but I wouldn’t listen… and I shot back, telling him not to use me as an excuse. He grabbed me by the collar, and I screamed at him to go on and hit me.”
Whale Hunter smirked.
“He couldn’t take it anymore and actually raised his fist. I squeezed my eyes shut, scared… but the punch never came.”
“…”
“So I opened my eyes, ready to taunt him for not being able to do it… but he was just staring at the sky with this dazed look on his face. So I looked, too.”
A faint trace of hatred crept into his voice.
“A massive purple Gate had opened in the sky above Busan.”
“…”
“Through that Gate, hundreds of giant whales poured out. They started circling together… and summoned a massive vortex.”
He took a swig of soju after every sentence.
“I was just staring, mesmerized by this unbelievable sight, when my brother suddenly shoved me back. I thought, Is he trying to keep fighting? But the next moment, the vortex was right in front of me.”
“…”
“My brother shoved me, and I was thrown just clear of the vortex. But he… he was swept up inside.”
Gulp after gulp after gulp.
Whale Hunter shut his eyes tight and downed the rest of the soju.
“…And just like that, he was gone. Busan, my brother, everything… up into the sky. Leaving me behind on the ground.”
He slammed the empty bottle onto the deck and spat out the words in a trembling voice.
“Leaving me to live…”
“…”
“Dammit. You were the one who knew how to fight to survive. You should have been the one left here. Not a worthless piece of trash like me. My brother should have lived.”
Thirty years had passed since the Gates opened.
For every person who survived, a tragedy remained.
“That’s why I can’t forgive that whale.”
Staring at the sea with bloodshot eyes, Whale Hunter continued to mutter.
“That monster… I will dedicate my life to killing it. I have to.”
After a moment, he let out a low, cackling laugh, then staggered to his feet. Humming a tune, his voice thick with drink, he headed back to the engine room.
Spring has come to the camellia isle, but at Busan Port, where my brother left, only the gulls cry sadly…
“Hmm.” Leaning against the boat’s damaged hull, Ghost murmured, “A straggler.”
“A straggler?”
“That man, and that whale. They both wanted to ascend to the Busan in the sky, but they were left behind, stragglers on the ground.”
Ghost shrugged. “But who isn’t? Me too… I wanted to stay in the world of thirty years ago, but here I am, a straggler.”
Jae-hee was lost in thought for a moment when a voice piped up beside him.
“This is yum!”
“Wahh.”
He looked over to see the Flying Tentacle God greedily devouring raw fish while Crying-X licked up the sesame oil. Next to them, the Rose Princess was sprawled out limply.
“…Gimme some blood…”
Ghost smirked and jutted her chin in their direction. “Same goes for those idiots.”
“…”
“We’re all stragglers. Drifting on this godforsaken ocean, never able to reach the world we truly want.”
It was already afternoon. The sun would be setting soon.
As Ghost sat on the deck of the broken-down boat, wondering what in the world she was even doing here, Jae-hee spoke.
“…I’m still glad, though.”
Leaning back against the hull beside her, he smiled faintly.
“Because you were left behind in this world, Master… we were able to meet.”
“…”
“I think good things can still happen, even if we’re stragglers… no, because we’re stragglers.”
Ghost gave her disciple an incredulous look, then shook her head slightly.
“I’m starting to think being cheeky is your greatest talent…”